Glass House
by BlueOrphan
Summary: The White Palace is a place that functions as a casino, theatre show and circus at the same time. Setsuna is a demon who works there. Resigned to the life she has she is content until a mysterious gypsy, escaping from an unseen creature, comes her way in the most unconventional way. Things change but for better or worse? A.U
1. Chapter 1

It was noisy, loud. Excited yells filled the air. Lightning flashed in the night skies in white forks that illuminated the darkness. Rain fell down in buckets, pounding like sledgehammers against the glass walls of the Colosseum. As she heard the rumble of thunder echo throughout the air Setsuna opened her eyes wearily and gazed across at the two fighters in one of the metal cages in front of her on the platform. One was a robot, the other well…he would have to find a way to live. It was a serious fight so the cage door was closed. There was no way out until someone hit the floor first. That was the way things were here, in the Palace. Setsuna smiled to herself. Of course it was called a palace-on the outside maybe. The Colosseum was connected by one walkway to the main buildings where everyone who worked here slept, ate and worked together. The main buildings were part of the Palace. It was where Setsuna lived along with over two dozen other people that included show-girls, circus performers, cooks and helpers that were employed on a casual basis. And most of them were either magical creatures or had some measure of magical powers. Standing on the opposite side of the platform in the audience across from her were Al and Nekane. They were watching another fight adjacent to the one Setsuna was looking at.

Al was dressed in his usual white cloak and hood, his hair tied back. He looked jovial as usual. Nekane was carrying an umbrella and had her palm out, a fireball hovering above it to keep warm. It was a skill that was specific to gypsies-to be able to create fire from life-force itself. Catching Setsuna looking at them Nekane waved at her. Setsuna smiled slightly, standing up as the fighter in the cage in front of her rolled to the side to avoid being crushed by the robot. They were all fighting the same robots-humanoid in appearance but controlled and imbued with magic, given fighting skills by Nekane and Al. That was how they knew every style of fighting in existence down to the last jab or strike. It was because Al and Nekane had transferred knowledge from books and scrolls into their hard-drives. That was another speciality of gypsies to feed information from anywhere into a person or animal-well, ones that were born a gypsy. Ones that had innate power.

Crunch. Setsuna didn't bother to look. She'd seen it all before. Not many people survived the Colosseum. Not many at all. They underestimated the power and skills of the robots. Those that were foolish enough to come knew what was at stake-a chance to win $10, 000 cold hard cash. Setsuna should know. She had been here for a very long time. They held these battles once every year. The audience usually consisted of a small group of people from the Palace, workers and performers that were employed on a casual basis-the ones who lived in the Palace were usually elsewhere, having seen the fights before. Most came because the matches were held in the late afternoon and they had nothing else to do during that time. Al and Nekane were the owners, both with equal share of the profits. Al was the one who was powering the robots using sheer, raw magic. He was a gypsy. Setsuna had known Al for a very long time now but he'd never told her whether he was a born a gypsy or not. Those kinds of gypsies were naturally gifted with innate magical ability and raw power. They were stronger than people who learnt the skills. Nekane was a born gypsy.

A worker near Setsuna cheered as the robot diverted a punch and threw the fighter down on the ground. Setsuna stood up, feeling her insides squirm. She didn't like seeing these things. She squeezed past the audience, going to the stair-way in between the seats and made her way down to the inter-connecting walkway at the bottom ringing the platform for the cage matches that led out the Colosseum. As she reached the bottom she heard a sizzle of electricity. The warrior screamed. Setsuna glanced upwards. The warrior was down, sprawled out on the floor. Above them the robot's face on the scoreboard lit up. The lock clicked and the cage door to the right sprung open. The robot's closed fist screeched to halt an inch away from the warrior's face. Like all the other robots it was programmed to stop the second it or its opponent hit the floor. One by one, the other fighters fell too. Beeping noises filled the air as the doors sprung open. Al's form shimmered like static then another version of him appeared hovering in the air in the middle of the arena. The illusion procured a handheld microphone from underneath his cloak and raised it to his mouth.

"Ladies and gentlemen, will you please thank our brave fighters who took to the stage tonight," He announced, his voice filling up the area. "We'll see you again next year and hopefully, someone will walk away with $10,000!"

The fighters hopped down from the cage, helpers in velvet robes coming out from the audience into the inside to support the ones who needed help getting out because they were too injured from the fight. The workers that made up the audience began to file out, hustling one another and laughing. As they made their way to the exits on the left and right on either side of the Colosseum Setsuna lingered near the front seats. She had to do a routine check-up on the robots to make sure none of them had been dealt any blows to their systems that could mess with their programming and cause themto malfunction. In a few minutes the arena was empty save for Al, Nekane and Setsuna.

"Setsuna," A voice, cultured and decidedly feminine, said from behind her.

Setsuna turned. It was Ayaka, the ring-leader for the circus shows they held. She was holding an umbrella and dressed in a long yellow night-gown embroidered with white floral hair was tied up at the back with a clasp, long platinum blonde hair spilling down her back. She was looking over a sheet of paper in her free hand with a disturbed expression on her face.

"What is it Ayaka?" Setsuna asked.

Looking up from the sheet of paper she said, "I was looking over the costume designs and it says here that I have to wear nothing but a _coconut bra and a hulu skirt?_"

Setsuna paused, having walked halfway up the steps into one of the robot's cages. A mental image had popped into her head.

"Why do I have to wear something so revealing when it's so cold?" Ayaka said indignantly. "I thought the outfit I had was fine. It's been fine for the last eight years why change it now?"

Trying very hard to get images of a semi-naked Ayaka out of her mind Setsuna said climbing into the cage, "Why don't you go talk to Haruna? She's the one that's in charge of your costume."

"I did," Ayaka said irritably. "She told me we'd attract more people."

Setsuna knelt down tapping the robot's chest and sent magic from her own ki energy into it from her hand. The energy streamed out in a stream of glowing white energy, seeping into the chest and unlocking it from the inside. The square compartment sprang open, revealing a mass of circuitry with wires and fibre optics. Green light sped through the wires, igniting the insides like the city lights. The light signified the magic Al and Nekane had given to the robots to keep them moving. They were racing like little blips inside a mass of transparent fibre wires in set patterns that went from left to right and crisscrossed one another. The lights were strong, steady and moved at a rapid pace which meant there was nothing wrong.

"…Setsuna? Are you listening to me?"

Setsuna closed the compartment, the lines of the edges dissolving into its skin and stood up, looking at Ayaka, "Why don't you try it for a couple of shows? If you're still unhappy then I'll talk to Haruna about it."

Hopping down from the steps she headed for the next cage-there were four cages altogether. Setsuna looked at Ayaka briefly. Ayaka was in a word, beautiful with pleasant, feminine features, a tall, well-endowed, willowy frame, smooth, luxurious hair and expressive light blue eyes. She always held herself in composed, calm manner with grace and dignity. She resembled and acted like an aristocrat or one of those in the elite society that lived in town-houses or a noble or princess that lived in one of the real palaces that housed the country's royalty. Which was why Setsuna often thought she fitted better with the upper class of society, the elite, not here. And when Setsuna thought about Ayaka in that outfit…

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ayaka asked suspiciously.

Catching herself Setsuna coughed and mumbled, "No reason. Just go talk to Haruna and if that doesn't work then I'll talk to her."

Ayaka didn't look happy but Setsuna couldn't do anything about it. She climbed up the steps of the second cage, doing the same thing to the robot. It was modelled after a Taekwondo fighter who was part dog demon who they had seen last year so it was slim and agile with long legs, lean so that it could move fast and swiftly. It had a shirt, a jacket, fingerless gloves and pants that formed part of its other two were bulkier than this one and the one opposite the cage was the tallest. Its name was Inugami. It was Al's personal favourite, having been built and created and given magic to move and fight by him. The rest were conjured by their resident conjurer, a green-haired bard called Haruna who had joined the palace over five years ago as a young girl. She was one of the ones that had anyway.

"I hope we don't have a blackout this thunderstorm's the worst we've had," Ayaka muttered.

Silently Setsuna agreed. It was the most unusual one she'd ever experienced having gone on ever since the fights had started which was five hours ago. As she checked she saw something through the glass of the dome. Someone was running towards the dome. As Setsuna looked closer she saw it was a girl in a tattered white dress, drenched in rainwater. She slipped, caught herself and kept on running her face as white as a sheet. As she looked behind her Setsuna heard lightning split the skies like a whip. The room was illuminated in white for a short moment. The tripped, fell.

Setsuna stopped what she was doing calling, "Nekane there's a girl outside! Can you-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence as the girl burst through the doors, staggering inside. She kept on throwing frantic looks over her shoulder. As Setsuna began to move towards her something crashed into the glass above them, showering a lethal rain of jagged shards of glass over them. Setsuna pulled Ayaka down underneath her, sweeping her wings over them in an arch. She heard a sizzle of fire scissor through the air. Setsuna glanced upwards. There was a net of fire above them. Nekane was standing in the stands, her palm outstretched and a string of blazing fire extended from it that stretched across the air and started the net. There was a giant hole in the roof of the dome where glass was still falling but they were all melting as soon as they hit the fire. The girl was backing away from the gaping crack that had formed in front of her.

"What on earth is going-" Ayaka started to say when a white lightning bolt speared through the air through the hole, punching the ground near her feet.

The ground exploded, sending pieces of rock flying everywhere. A charred smell filled the air. When Setsuna turned her head back to look smoke was rising from a mini crater, a ring of scorched earth around it. The girl had darted away weaving around the cages. Setsuna was surprised she didn't cut her feet on the glass that was littering the floor. Setsuna snapped her gaze upwards as she heard more glass breaking above her. Tongues of lightning were whipping into the arena, lashing out upturning the ground and smashing holes into the seats. One of the lightning bolts slammed into one of the robots which exploded, mechanical innards spraying everywhere through the gaps in the bars. The girl had frozen, terrified. Setsuna quickly drew gypsy runes in the air around Ayaka, glowing blue letters that would protect her from getting hurt by any flying objects. They spun around, forming a circle around Ayaka's waist that hung there, suspended in midair.

"Stay here," Setsuna told Ayaka.

Bam. The lightning was getting worse now. More of it was coming through, blowing apart the cages and striking the air. Setsuna ducked to avoid getting decapitated by flying shrapnel and broken bars-the ones that didn't end up getting torched on the fire. Al was drawing rune after rune into the air, his movement so fast that it looked like he wasn't even doing anything at first glance. Then one noticed the mass of blue glowing symbols, letters in another language that were hanging in the air at the roof of the dome. They were gypsy runes, things that looked like random shapes or lines or inverted letters. As soon as he finished drawing each rune they flew upwards, joining the rest.

"Al, hurry up!" Setsuna yelled.

Al knew more runes than she did and drew them at a speed that Setsuna could only describe as inhuman but the lightning was coming through faster and faster. Not even he could keep up. The girl shrieked as it struck close to her feet, stumbling over a mechanical arm and fell through the open door into the cage. She'd fallen into Inugami's cage. She hit the robot, looked up at and leapt to her feet in fear her hand brushing against the buzzer at the door. There was a noise and it slammed shut. And the skies gave an ungodly rumble of thunder that sounded like a roar. Tingles shot down Setsuna's spine. She rushed forwards, vaulting into the cage and running to her. The thunder got louder, so loud Setsuna surprised her ear-drums didn't explode.

"Setsuna get out of the way!"

Al was yelling. He never yelled not unless he was being serious. White lightning suddenly crashed into the ground around them, drowning out all noise. Setsuna could run but then the girl would probably be fried and she'd be paralysed or something. She'd never tried to running directly in a minefield of lightning before. So that meant staying where she was a sitting duck.

"Setsuna!" Nekane cried out, "Above you!"

Setsuna glanced upwards. A torrent of crackling, sizzling white lightning was hurtling towards them hissing and spitting. Inugami threw himself in front of them at the last minute. Setsuna swept her wings over the girl in a protective shield, drawing the same runes she'd done for Ayaka for both of them. She finished them just in time because she heard Inugami explode behind her just as the runes banded around them both in a circle locking in place in the air. Setsuna pulled the girl tighter to her, squeezing her eyes shut and praying that her runes were strong enough so she wouldn't get her head sliced off by flying pieces of sharp metal that she saw and felt whipping past her. She guessed it was because she saw ripples in the air in front of her which meant that the metal that impacted the barrier that the runes erected was being stopped as soon as they touched it. Sure enough she heard them falling to the ground. When everything was silent again she slowly, very slowly, moved back and opened her eyes. It looked like someone had set a bomb off in the arena. Half the stands were destroyed, the robots were in pieces around them and shattered glass littered the ground which was lacerated and burnt black. Chunks of earth scattered the area.

"Are you alright?" Setsuna asked the girl gently.

"Y-Yes," She stammered nodding. She swallowed looking around, "W-Where am I?"

"The palace," Setsuna said. "You're safe now."

"Setsuna!" Nekane stumbled into the cage followed by Al. "Are you alright?"

"I'm ok," Setsuna said.

"T-Thanks for saving me," She smiled weakly up at her. "My name's…my…" She stopped, sneezing again.

Setsuna slipped off her coat and draped it over her shoulders. Sniffing she looked at Setsuna again and said gratefully, "Thank you."  
Tingles shot up Setsuna's spine. Everything faded. She felt like she'd been hit with a hammer-a very big, giant-sized hammer. And inside her head a voice, husky and smooth, whispered promises of lavender kisses, chocolate roses and endless nights spent underneath satin sheets and duvets sprinkled with the twilight stars of the fathomless night skies. In front of Setsuna in between them a trail of delicate pink rose petals fluttered past. Setsuna blinked, shaking her head and rubbed her eyes, dazed.

"Are you ok?" The girl asked, watching her with concerned eyes.

"Y-Yeah," Setsuna said.

She glanced to the side and stared. There were no petals. Setsuna looked back at the girl in confusion.

"Are you sure _you're_ ok?" She said innocently.

"Yes but-"

"Why don't you tell us who you are?" Al said. He stood near the entrance, surveying the girl with calm curious eyes.

As Nekane crossed over to Setsuna who was stumbling to her feet the girl got up clinging tightly to Setsuna's rain-coat. Her hair was in her eyes, rain streaming down her face in heavy rivers.

Her lips turned upwards into a small smile and she said, "My name is Konoka."

* * *

A.N: Enjoy :).


	2. Chapter 2

"Setsuna will you please stop doing that?" Nekane asked looking up at her from the chair she was sitting in exasperatedly.

Setsuna didn't seem to hear her and kept on pacing the floor. They were in one of the rooms on the top floor of the palace. It was a guest bedroom.

"The weather seems to have gotten a little better at least," Al noted, peering out the curtains of the window in the room. Rain was pattering off the roof-tops, streaming down the windowpanes in rivers.

"Yes but the colosseum is destroyed and the robots," Nekane frowned.

"We can get Haruna to create a new arena," Al reassured her.

Setsuna paused in her pacing, lifting her head to look at Al, "Haruna's banned from creating anymore colosseums."

Haruna was their resident conjurer a type of bard that could create anything out of thin air except Haruna was unique. For one thing, Haruna used a quill and sketchbook that she could summon at will. Whatever she finished drawing came to life. She had a limit though according to how many things she could create at any given time. The last time she had unintentionally created a colosseum it had been a death-trap of mines, tar pits, quicksand and flamethrowers. They vowed never to ask her to do it again after they also found an imploding nuclear bomb buried in the quicksand that had materialized inside by itself after she'd finished drawing the colosseum.

"Well then I suppose-"

"And you swore you wouldn't help her after the debacle that had happened the last time you two worked together on building it," Setsuna continued.

"I only said I would stay away. Haruna was the one who sought out my help," Al countered with a cordial smile.

As Setsuna gave him a sullen look the door clicked open. Ayaka stepped inside looking disgruntled and closed the door behind her.

Brushing back her blonde hair with a graceful hand, she said, "The arena will probably take a few days to repair without Haruna's help. We could still make it on time for the opening next week if you three use your powers to help."

"Well that's settled then," Nekane said. "We'll start tomorrow."

"So none of you saw rose petals?" Setsuna asked, oblivious to anything else.

Sighing Nekane shook her head and said patiently, "No."

"I think you were just imagining things," Al said.

"I wasn't," Setsuna insisted. "There were rose petals flying through the air. They were right in front of me."

Nekane exchanged looks with Al. Setsuna stopped pacing the room.

"Setsuna…" Nekane began gently. "Maybe the girl's a young mage or sorceress. Some of them have the ability to cast minor illusions without even realizing it. She could just be a late bloomer."

Setsuna mulled her words over.

"Moreover, were you listening about repairing the robots and the colosseum?"

Setsuna nodded distractedly and muttered, "I'm sure there were rose petals."

Nekane and Al exchanged glances with one another. Nekane touched Setsuna's shoulder, "Why don't you sit down? We can ask Konoka all of this when she finishes taking her shower."

"Well…that's if she's staying," Ayaka said.

Setsuna looked at her, "What?"

"She probably has a home, family who's worried about her," Ayaka said, raising a brow at Setsuna, "Which she'll want to return to unless you intend to keep her here for the rest of her life."

Setsuna frowned at her, wrinkles appearing between her eyebrows as she knitted them together, "Don't exaggerate. You're the one who came seeking our help. You could've gone any time you wanted."

Ayaka looked slightly embarrassed then glanced over her shoulder at the closed door, "I'm just concerned about her. I don't…well I'm sure she has people who care about her. She looks like a gypsy to me. They always have family."

Setsuna didn't say anything. She knew what Ayaka meant. When the blonde had first came to the palace she had been starving and ridden with a bad case of the flu. It was so bad it had taken half a year for her to recover with everyone alternating shifts to take care of her. One time her body temperature had actually dropped down below zero degrees and her heart had stopped beating. Setsuna had thought she was dead when Al and Nekane managed to jumpstart her heart again using some high level gypsy magic that they'd told her was feeling her life force and making her heart beat again that way. They'd found out later that Ayaka had been been told in no uncertain terms that she was not welcome to stay with her family after she caused the garden to transform into a wall of thorny vines that swarmed over the entire estate. That was when she figured out she was an elemental mage. She could do anything with plants. She'd yet to cause earthquakes yet which was good. Setsuna didn't want to deal with an angry earth mage who was also her friend.

"Hey guys wassup?! I saw new meat come through here!"

All present save Al and Setsuna jumped-Setsuna snapped into attacking position while Al glanced sideways. A tanned-skinned man had popped next to them, laughing. His laughter filled the entire room.

"Hello Jack," Setsuna sighed, relaxing.

Jack was one of their managers. He was a behemoth of a man with muscles that were so huge the jacket he was wearing seemed to be close to bursting at the seams. He was triple the height of Setsuna, a towering giant but he was nice enough. A little perverted but nice all the less.

"Yo," Jack grinned at her, casting demonic golden eyes on her. "So who's the girl?"

"Konoka," Al said.

Setsuna strode over to the window as Al explained the situation to him, looking out through the rain-streaked glass which was distorted. The skies were grey, storm clouds gathering. Rain poured down from the skies cloaking the ground, robots and debris of the Colosseum in the beginnings of a thick vapour. Setsuna had no doubt there'd be fog in the morning. She could still see nets of white lightning flashing against the clouds and her ears, enhanced by demonic hearing, could hear the faint sound of thunder rolling through the air. It sounded angry which made no sense. Turning away from the window she leaned back against the windowsill, her eyes falling on Jack. He was in as good a mood as ever, laughing as he listened to Al. Sometimes when she watched him Setsuna could almost believe he wasn't what he really was.

"So the gypsy princess caused some trouble eh?" Jack said. "Where is the little missy?"

"She's showering Jack," Setsuna said, lifting her gaze so she met his eyes.

"Showering eh?" A slow grin spread across his face.

"Don't you dare," Setsuna warned as he conjured a pair of reading glasses out of thin air and put them on, rolling his shoulders and flexing his arms.

"Don't worry Setsuna I'll tell you all the details," Jack glanced back over his shoulder winking at her.

"Jack!" Setsuna raised her voice, standing up. When he didn't stop Setsuna summoned her sword Yuunagi in a blaze of red flames and threw it point-tip at him with a powerful over-arm strike, "I said don't."

The sword screamed through the air directly past his ear, lodging itself into the cedar oak door with a crunch of wood. Stomping over Setsuna yanked the sword out by the hilt, glaring up at Jack who was still grinning down at her, amused. A very long time ago Setsuna would've felt scared. Jack was built like a wrestler on steroids. Setsuna had seen this man crush a military airship to a tin can with his bare hands and withstand the explosion of a contained super-powered magically augmented hydrogen bomb that was meant for him and him only. But that was before. Since then she realized that death wasn't the worst thing to be scared of. There were things that were far, far worse.

"Really? Then what're you gonna do about it?" Jack chuckled, cracking his knuckles.

Setsuna gripped the hilt of Yuunagi tighter, feeling the tassels tied around the hilt brush her skin. It was a comforting feeling.

"I'll-ow!" Setsuna yelped as the door hit the back of her head making her stumble forwards.

Jack vanished, reappearing near Al. Half in the shadows he stroked his chin in thought, only the whites of his teeth showing.

"Oops sorry Setsuna," Konoka said, looking at her in surprise, "But you shouldn't have been near the door."

Her head throbbing with pain Setsuna muttered under her breath, shooting a dirty look at Jack, "I was trying to stop unwanted attention."

"Oh you're hurt. I must've opened the door harder than I thought," Konoka's face creased into a sympathetic look. Leaning closer to Setsuna she reached up and kissed her on the back of the head, blowing on it and stroked it with gentle fingers, "Is that better?"

Setsuna shot about ten feet into the air, alarmed. Leaping away and hitting the dressing table noisily with the back of her legs Setsuna swallowed looking at her warily, "Please don't ever do that again."

Confused Konoka asked with wide eyes, "Why what's wrong?"

"Setsuna's sensitive," Al said smoothly.

Great, Setsuna thought as Konoka slowly looked from Al to her uncertainly. She probably thought Setsuna was a freak.

"Oh," Konoka said. She looked at each one of them, her face sincere and pushed her fingers together nervously, "I'm sorry about destroying your arena. I'll stay and help you to fix it if you'll have me."

In her fluffy cotton white bath-robe, her hair in damp tousled waves all around her she looked like she'd just stepped out of a spa.

"Why'd you have to give her that robe?" Setsuna whispered to Ayaka as she shifted, exposing part of her chest. She had nothing underneath.

"I only _have_ those kinds of robes," Ayaka whispered back.

Setsuna spun around on her heel as Konoka dropped the straps of her robe revealing her lack of clothing underneath.

"Eh hehe oops sorry slip of my fingers," Konoka said with a sheepish laugh.

Setsuna snuck a look over her shoulder and she was glad to see Konoka cover up.

"Konoka is it?" Jack boomed.

Konoka's head snapped upwards in sheer terror. Setsuna pinched the skin between her eyebrows, counting silently in her head as Jack stepped out of the shadows, a conjured beer bottle of Bourbon in his hand.

"Y-Yes," Konoka stuttered. "Who are-?"

"You can call me Jack," He chuckled. "So you're willing to help huh?"

Konoka already looked like she was half-regretting it. Not waiting for an answer Jack laughed, "Get up bright and early tomorrow in the morning kid and follow these guys out. We'll see what you can do."

He swigged the Bourbon with one gulp and threw the bottle aside where it broke apart into pieces as it hit the wall. The pieces faded away before they touched the floor.

"How did you do that?" Konoka asked, watching the glass vanish with amazement.

"Magic," Jack said with a boisterous laugh. "Wanna see my swords?"

"Oh here we go again," Ayaka said rolling her eyes and crinkling her nose.

"Ayaka doesn't like this kind of stuff," Setsuna told Konoka, biting back a smile as the blonde gave a distasteful look towards Jack.

"That's because unlike you people I am graceful, elegant and-" Ayaka said, drawing herself up to her full height.

"Hey Miss Graceful and Elegant, stand back," Jack called.

He was rolling his shoulders, cracking his neck experimentally with a devilish grin. Ayaka moved to the side, grumbling. Konoka seemed to notice Setsuna's sword.

"It was my father's," Setsuna said to her. "I can summon it using gypsy magic."

"And she's something with it ain't ya Setsuna?" Jack laughed.

He clapped his hands together, emitting a sonic boom that overturned the dressing table. Konoka jumped as the windows exploded out from behind her.

Setsuna looked towards the now broken window which had a hole in it now, exasperated and said, "Can you not possibly not do that? You're scaring Konoka."

"I'm not scared," Konoka said unconvincingly, her voice breaking halfway.

Setsuna gave her a look.

"O…okay maybe a little," Konoka said nervously, eyeing Jack.

Something was appearing in front of his hands. It was a wide, broad steel sword. It grew bigger and bigger until the hilt and tip of the blade just scraped the ceiling and floor. The hilt had bandages around it which were torn along the side for some reason like it'd been nibbled on.

"I'll show ya a little trick," Jack said, taking the sword by the hilt and giving it a mighty experimental swing.

Setsuna noticed Al move back. Discretely, Setsuna hooked her fingers around Konoka's and did the same thing. Seeming to think for a minute he threw the sword up and balanced the tip of the sword on his nose. Konoka made to move forwards but Setsuna held her back, shaking her head.

"It's ok he does this all the time," Setsuna said.

The blade of the sword had gone straight through the roof down to the hilt. Jack grinned at Konoka, showing shining white teeth.

"What's he going to-?" Konoka started, getting nervous.

Jack suddenly inhaled and boomed, swiping the sword and swinging it, "Rakan Fever!"

Setsuna hit the ground taking Konoka with her as a nova explosion of energy surged forth from Jack and the sword, elimating the carpet and windows. Konoka yelped as she felt something sharp scrape her skin. Five smaller swords had come out from the original sword and gone through the wall in a shower of splintered wood and glass fragments that rained around them.

"Hmm," Jack said, scratching his head. "That should've worked better."

"Were you planning to take out the entire wall then?" Al said.

"Something like that," Jack said.

Setsuna got up, helping Konoka and looked at the giant hole in the wall.

"Was that the trick?" Konoka asked.

"Nope," Jack laughed.

"Watch," Setsuna told her.

The broken wood and glass zoomed back into place bit by bit like a jigsaw puzzle. Within seconds it'd reformed leaving it whole and normal again.

"That was the trick?" Konoka asked.

"Magic ain't it?" Jack chuckled.

"How did you do that?"

"Like I said magic," Jack made the sword disappear, crossing his arms and glanced up, "You know Al you should up the game for the matches. It's getting boring."

"If we did that then no one would be able to win," Al chided.

"That's a horrible idea," Ayaka said disapprovingly. The blonde crawled out from underneath the bed she'd been hiding under, getting up and brushing herself off. She glared at Jack, "Those matches are already bad enough. Your idea will just make them worse."

Setsuna made Yuunagi disappear in a wreath of flames and said, "It's a way for fighters to test their strengths Ayaka. No one would come if they didn't want to."

Ayaka just gave a noise of annoyance.

"She detests the cage matches don't you?" Al said with a light smile.

Ayaka wrinkled her nose, "It's uncultured, silly and violent. Honestly I don't know how some of you can find entertainment in watching those things."

"So what were you running from Konoka?" Nekane asked.

Konoka's eyes flicked downwards. Setsuna saw them flicker then her expression brightened, "Well I'm a gypsy but I ran away from my clan when I was very young."

"A rogue gypsy?" Al looked at her, interested, "That's rare."

"So what were you running from?" Setsuna asked.

"A wolf I'd made friends with along my travels recently," Konoka said. Her eyes grew sad, "He hasn't been well lately. He was acting strange and he tried to attack me so I had to flee."

One known fact of gypsies was that they were animal whisperers. Some possessed the skill to speak with any animal of the wild. Out of those who could do that some could also tame them if they wanted to kill them. Al and Nekane were two such ones. Setsuna could speak and communicate but so far she hadn't really had luck taming. The skill wasn't uncommon but it wasn't ordinary either. Al was looking at Konoka thoughtfully, his expression serene. Setsuna had known him long enough to be able to tell that he didn't believe her.

"You seemed unconcerned for someone who had just lost a friend," Al said.

Konoka's eyes watered, her lips trembling.

"Al!" Nekane scolded. She crossed over to Konoka, taking in a warm reassuring hug. Glancing over her shoulder at Al she said, "Be nicer to her."

Al bowed his head curtly, straightening and said, "My apologies Miss Konoe. I trust you won't think badly of me. You came under suspicious circumstances so you understand if I did feel cautious about you."

"It's ok," Konoka sniffed.

Setsuna looked over at Al darkly. She couldn't believe Al had been so rude to her. Setsuna couldn't see anything wrong with Konoka's story. Although…Konoka didn't seem like the type to leave her clan and go solo. Setsuna felt a tiny spike of doubt gnaw at her insides. She ignored it. Nekane let go of her and Setsuna saw that she was really crying. Jack was looking at her with a strange grin on his face. He looked like he had figured out the secret to life. Setsuna wondered if Jack had figured out something about Konoka that the rest of them hadn't.

Rolling one of his shoulders and cracking it experimentally he laughed, "Weeeeeeell since that's sorted out I'm gonna go down to the bar. Later."

"There's a spare room on the floor beneath this one where you can stay for the time being," Setsuna said to Konoka as Jack headed towards the door. "I'll show you where it is."

"Avveruncus' room eh?" Jack chuckled.

"Who?" Konoka asked.

"No one you should be concerned about," Setsuna said, shooting Jack a look.

"Tell me if the girlie's gonna stay I got an idea for her," Jack just laughed.

Setsuna usually didn't trust Jack especially when it came to ideas for what people could do. It either ended up being something humiliating or too dangerous for the person involved. This was one of those times.

"Relax Setsuna huh," Jack said heading for the door.

Konoka started to tie the strap to the bath-robe, beaming, "So what time are you guys going to fix the Colosseum tomorrow?"

"You don't have to help," Setsuna told her.

"Oh I think she does," Al said. "She is partly responsible for breaking it after all."

As Setsuna was about to argue Jack walked straight through the door. Konoka's fingers fumbled on the straps of the bath-robe, her face paling.

"How did he-?" Konoka asked.

There was a pause as Setsuna, Al and Nekane exchanged glances with one another. Ayaka paid him no attention.

"Konoka there is something you have to know about this place. It's…different. There are a lot of people here, special people and Jack is one of them," Setsuna said. "You see…Jack is a ghost."

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A.N: Whoa this chapter turned out longer than I thought. Read, enjoy and remember to click that shiny review button everyone ;). Til next time Blue out-

NegimaFan: Cheers I hope you like fantasy :D. I'm glad you're liking this ^^.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: The previous chapter 3 I uploaded had a mistake in it so this is the edited chap.

* * *

When Setsuna, Al and Nekane treaded out towards the Colosseum the next morning to repair the place there was a thick fog that partially obscured everything from sight. Making her way through the debris with a tool-box of screw-drivers, bolts, screws, some metal plates and small spare parts in her hand Setsuna smacked right into something hard and concrete-a partially destroyed seat. Holding her throbbing nose she glared up at the seat. Someone bumped into her from behind.

"Oops, sorry," Konoka giggled.

Setsuna turned around in surprise. The girl was standing there in her sleeping clothes-a top that was tied at the middle and fluffy cotton blue pants that hugged her hips giving anyone with eyes a full view of the curves of her waist and hips. No other girl but Ayaka at this place besides Haruna had clothes would reveal that much of the stomach. For someone who had seen a ghost last night she didn't look like it. She was radiating happiness, standing there in a pair of rabbit slippers and her hair was wet. Setsuna caught a whiff of clean soap, shampoo, a fragrance like smelt like fresh, exotic fruit, velvet sheets sprinkled with fresh flowers and rich champagne. There was something that smelt like bubblegum and candycorn in there too. As Konoka moved closer, her hair waving in the wind Setsuna half closed her eyes as something else, another scent of lilies and scented perfume that reminded her of walks out among the streets in Paris and rich creamy dark chocolate ice-cream with chocolate chips that was five metres high dripping from the sides of the cone. Setsuna blinked. Whoa where had that come from? She didn't even know anything about Paris.

"Since you're here you can help me go fix Inugami first," Setsuna said, turning and making her way down the rubble-strewn terrain. "Watch out for broken robot parts and chairs."

As they made their way down, Setsuna heard the girl's footsteps treading the ground with light foot-steps. A piece of metal and debris was being nudged aside every so often. She barely made a sound. Spying Inugami slumped against a broken pillar through the fog a short distance away Setsuna stopped, waiting to see if it'd malfunctioned. If it was the programming would detect Setsuna as an enemy because they were within three feet of one another. Al was far away with Nekane working on one of the robots with jujutsu skills. From what she could see its face was caved in and one of its arms was missing, metallic sparks shooting off the joint. The chest plate was torn off revealing a jigsaw of hollow transparent fibre optic wires that criss-crossed over one another in a circuit. Its mechanical heart, seated in the middle and plugged to the sides with two thick copper wires on either sides had a tube of jagged steel jammed directly in the middle. Al knelt down and grasping the steel, ripped it out. Green energy squirted out in an arc. Nekane passed him a cloth which he used to cover the hole in the heart that the steel tube had left to stop anymore energy from escaping. After a moment he removed the cloth and opened the lid of a tool-box at his side.

Nekane knelt down on the other side, reaching over and taking a screw-driver out. Al rifled around in the tool-box, searching for something. It was a small copper metal plate with holes at all corners. He put it over the hole. It was too big to fit but Nekane drew some symbols in the air, shimmering green letters which were runes. The symbols sank down into the plate and it morphed, changing shape to fit into the hole. There was a whirring, clicking noise and the robot's eyes flickered, electric signals darting across them. Within moments the eyes had lit up glowing green before fading into green human eyes, artificial and a perfect copy of a human's. Setsuna set the toolbox down, kicking it open with her foot and set Inugami upright into sitting position. There was a creaking noise then the metal casing fell off on the legs and the plating of the chest compartment fell, clanging onto a piece of debris. The hollow fibre-optic wires that connected the heart to the sides were broken, holes in them. They'd been punctured. All the magic that had been put inside it had leaked out and dispersed. Setsuna put her hand over the wires. Her hand glowed and green tendrils of light seeped from her palm into the holes in the wires. The holes closed and soon, green lights were speeding, circulating through the wires like race cars. Inugami made a whirring noise then its eyes slid open but they were blank.

"What's wrong with him?" Konoka asked anxiously.

"Not enough energy," Setsuna muttered. She passed Konoka the casing for the legs and told her, "Put these back in place. If you push them in they should just slide in."

Konoka nodded and got to work. As she did Setsuna paused, her hand hovering over Inugami's chest to inject more energy into his systems. A memory of Konoka starting to cry came surfacing back in her mind. Something was wrong here. Setsuna had never been so quick to trust someone in her life. Now as she watched Konoka happily pushing metal plates and casing back into place and screwing them in with a screw-driver she wondered why. The story Konoka had given them had been plausible even if the circumstances were a little strange. Then why was it that there was a seed of doubt in the back of Setsuna's mind. Again she thought of the rose petals. She couldn't have imagined them. She was sure they were real.

"What were you running from?" Setsuna asked.

"Hmmm?" Konoka looked at her, confused.

"In the thunder-storm you looked like something was going to attack you," Setsuna said.

"I told you it was my friend the wolf," Konoka replied.

"Yes but-"Setsuna started to say.

"Can you show me around?" Konoka interrupted, somehow managing to still sound pleasant. "This place is huge and there's so many things here. I haven't even seen the parlour rooms and casinos and the second floor! And there's all the stuff on the third and fourth floors!"

Taken aback Setsuna didn't say anything.

"Please?" Konoka persisted.

Setsuna looked at the robot then to Al and Nekane, "I don't know Konoka I have to finish this and there's still-"

Konoka cupped her hands around her mouth and called over to Nekane, "Nekane can Setsuna take me for a little tour? It'll be really short!"

Nekane waved her hand signalling yes. Konoka turned back to Setsuna, beaming. Reluctantly Setsuna stood up, putting the tools back in the tool-box. Konoka took her hand, pulling her along gleefully. As they left Setsuna caught a glimpse of Al raising his hand, probably to draw runes to create a barrier to prevent Setsuna from leaving and Nekane putting his hand down and speaking to him.

As they ran out (well Konoka was running) Setsuna asked, "Where did you sleep last night? I asked Al but he wouldn't tell me."

"Ayaka's room," Konoka said. She glanced at Setsuna nervously, "So can I stay with you guys? I'll help you guys out."

"Uh...we'll see," Setsuna said lamely.

Konoka looked slightly disappointed.

"Don't you have a clan to go to? Family?" Setsuna asked. "Even if you ran away if you apologized they'd still take you back."

"I don't know where they are now," Konoka said.

They were approaching the main doors where the giant purple banner, hanging from the ledge at the top floor of the palace, rolled down. The white wing, painted in a symbol, on top of it seemed to gleam in the sunlight.

Setsuna sighed, "I'll talk to Al and Nekane. They're the ones that pay for this place."

"They do? How?" Konoka said, awed.

"Um well Nekane's family owns a large amount of money. They have a lot of businesses in the city and in places all over the country," Setsuna said slowly. "She's an aristocrat but she is quite eccentric. She was born a gypsy you see and no one else in the family was one so she sought out nearby gypsy clans to seek help about her growing powers. She spent the better part of her teenage years with the gypsies. That's where she met Al."

Setsuna pushed open the entrance, gesturing politely for Konoka to go in first. Setsuna closed the door behind them silently and twisted the handle so it shut. They were standing in the open foyer that led to the parlour rooms and casino. The stair-case was at the end which led up to the other floors with the chandelier in the middle on the ceiling which towered above them. Silently they walked down the hallway to the stair-case. Konoka was looking around, soaking in everything with her eyes. They passed the casinos, the parlour games.

When were halfway up the stairs Konoka asked, looking at her in confusion, "Where are all the other workers? This place is too much for all of you to take care of."

"A bard here takes care of them," Setsuna said.

"What do you mean?"

"She makes them and re-uses them," Setsuna said. A look of amazement crossed Konoka's face. Setsuna quickly looked away, clearing her throat, "Um I'll show you the casinos and parlour rooms."

Setsuna led Konoka up the rest of the stairs and showed her the parlour rooms and rest of the casino areas. There were only four areas, two for each because they were the ones that elite patrons paid for. The casinos were the largest with slot machines, electronic game machines and tables decked out with colourful turn tables which were for games like Blackjack or Russian Roulette and video machines for poker. Setsuna took her to her room. It wasn't in the plan but Konoka had insisted-sweetly of course.

Which made Setsuna nervous. But she blamed the way her nerves were jumping on the fact that a stranger was seeing her room. Setsuna pushed open the door, inclining her head and gestured. Konoka walked inside, giggling for some reason. Setsuna was startled into a smile, her nerves melting like honey from a jar.

_Wait, what? _

Setsuna shook her head then followed her inside.

"It's so dark in here," Konoka frowned, walking over to her closed window.

She pulled the blinds open and sunlight streamed through illuminating her room and the objects in a warm glow.

"That's better," Konoka said. "Oh Jack's down there!"

Setsuna crossed over to her standing by her side. Jack grinned up at her, hefting his sword on his shoulder. As Konoka waved down at him from the window Setsuna looked at her.

"Why aren't you scared?"

Konoka lowered her eyes, giving a little smile and said, "I was at first but when I thought about it Jack seemed harmless enough."

Setsuna looked at her, impressed.

"How did he become a ghost anyway?" Konoka asked curiously.

Setsuna hesitated. She didn't want to say anything that would scare her. She said carefully, "It was an accident involving an overload of magical power."

"From here?" Konoka glanced, surprised.

"Yes. He tried to stop magic from decimating everything but it didn't work," Setsuna said. In a softer voice she said, "We think he's still here because he has unfinished business otherwise he would have passed on decades ago."

Looking back out the window Konoka's expression seemed to have turned sad.

"You don't need to feel anything for him," Setsuna said gently. "It happened a long time ago. He wants to move on."

"But waiting for an eternity, isn't that pitiful?" Konoka said in a strange, wavering voice.

Setsuna smiled at her slightly which didn't reach her eyes, "We tried to help him but no one has been able to come up with anything."

Still looking troubled Konoka turned around and said, "Can I go to the bath-room?"

It was an odd request but Setsuna nodded, "Down the corridor just use my room."

"Thanks," Brushing at her eyes Konoka started to walk out.

"Wait," Setsuna said, starting to get up.

Konoka glanced over her shoulder at her, curious, "Yes?"

"…Nothing," Setsuna said. "Have a good shower."

Konoka smiled at her then left. Setsuna sat down on the ottoman, staring blankly at the wall. She didn't want Konoka to leave. It was a strange feeling, one she'd never felt before. It made no sense. She didn't even know the girl. What the heck was wrong with her?

"So she's made her mind to stay?"

If Setsuna hadn't been so used to Jack appearing out of nowhere she would've jumped so high she would've gone through the roof. Setsuna just nodded.

"Great," Jack said, stretching. "Listen up she's pretty get her to be in the opening act with the gymnast and shapeshifter."

"But isn't that a little dangerous for a gypsy?" Setsuna said apprehensively.

"Nah."

"She's not a gymnast," Setsuna said.

"You should have more faith in her kid. She's got some surprises up her sleeve," Jack grinned at her, showing pearly white teeth his eyes gleaming.

"And how would you know that?" Setsuna looked at him sourly.

"Got a little peek when she was takin' her shower. She's really somethin' y'know she bent all the way back just to get soap. Thought she was gonna snap her spine," Jack laughed.

Ignoring the fact that he played pervert Setsuna said, frowning, "How can she do that? She's a gypsy not a demon."

"Beats me," Jack shrugged.

At that moment a loud crash reverberated throughout the area, making the ground shudder followed by a scream. Dead silence filled the air.

Setsuna bolted out skidding on the carpet outside and raced down the hallway. The door to Nodoka's room was open and the purple-haired girl had stuck her head outside her expression somewhere between curious and worried.

"Setsuna, what was that?" Nodoka asked as Setsuna slowed to an abrupt halt, grabbing the doorknob for balance.

"Don't…know," Setsuna grunted. She glanced downwards.

Water was spilling out underneath the gap of the door seeping into the carpet. The door to the bathroom flung open and Konoka ran outside, terrified.

"T-T-T-T-T-There's s-s-s-s-s-something i-in th-there," Konoka stammered, swallowing.

"What are you talking about? There's nothing inside…," Setsuna trailed off as Nodoka's face suddenly turned nervous.

"Actually…" Nodoka said. "There could be something."

"Please don't tell me…" Setsuna groaned.

The door suddenly burst open at its hinges so hard it literally snapped off and flew towards them. Setsuna dragged Konoka down, covering her as well as she could to avoid getting flattened. There was a crunch of wood hitting the wall and the door spun off. She stood up and summoned her father's sword, Yuunagi to life. It flashed in her hand in a wreath of flames the same way it had when she'd called it when she'd wanted to use it to stop Jack. Before when she hadn't learnt gypsy magic she couldn't have done that since the sword had been broken anyway. Gypsy magic had brought it to her, pieced it back together and through gypsy magic she could make it disappear and summon it as she pleased.

"Whoa," She heard Konoka say behind her.

Setsuna didn't know what Konoka was saying whoa to. It could've been the sword trick or the human-sized fairy in front of her with blue skin, paper-thin transparent butterfly wings and pointed ears. She preferred to think it was the former. The fairy had an impish look on its face, its hands behind its back. The fairy pounced onto Setsuna before she could move. Setsuna toppled backwards, managing to raise her sword to block its clawed hands from gauging her chest. Konoka scrambled out from underneath her, summoning fire in her hand.

"Wait!" Nodoka said.

Konoka opened her mouth to argue when the fairy leaned forwards, planting a kiss on Setsuna's cheek.

"It's harmless," Nodoka explained as Konoka gawked at her, open-mouthed.

"It's one of Haruna's creations," Setsuna said making a disgusted face as it wrapped its arms around her.

"You mean-"

"Yes it's exactly what I was telling you about before. Haruna makes a lot of things and faeries...," Setsuna said. She stabbed the fairy in the middle. "They're one of them."

It dissolved into little silvers of paper but not before giving Setsuna a baleful look, its lips sticking out in a pout. Getting to her feet Setsuna held out Yuunagi making it disappear by will.

"Are you ok?" Setsuna asked.

Something flashed in Konoka's eyes that was too fast for Setsuna to make out. It almost looked like nervousness. Then Konoka was smiling pleasantly and nodding. Nodoka had already closed the door.

"What's the matter?" Setsuna asked.

"Nothing it's just…her life force feels strange to me. Where did she come from?" Konoka said.

"We found her in the woods," Setsuna said. "She was holding a book."

Somehow that didn't make Setsuna feel all that comfortable. It made her feel apprehensive and Setsuna suddenly thought she could be as bad as Haruna. Great, now I've got two crazy people in here. Setsuna thought.

"So you took them in like me?" Konoka said.

"Well yes-"

"Hey little missy!" Jack thundered.

Setsuna winced slightly as Jack materialized next to them.

"Since you're stayin' here you gotta prove your worth!" He boomed. The power of his voice alone made everyone's hair whip back.

"I will," Konoka promised.

"Great!" Jack laughed. He turned, starting to walk down the hallway with his hands in his pockets and called over his shoulder casually, "Have her do the opening act with Ayaka! They need an extra body!"

Konoka looked nervously at Setsuna who was glaring after Jack and said, "What does he mean by body?"

"Nothing," Setsuna said, pasting a reassuring smile on her face. "Come on I'll show you where you'll be staying."

"You mean the room that belonged to the person Avveruncus?" Konoka echoed.

Setsuna shot Jack a glare, wishing he hadn't mentioned that. Jack just grinned at her.

"Yes," Setsuna said.

She started to walk down the corridor towards the stair-case in the middle that would lead down into the floor underneath this one, taking Konoka's hand.

Catching the hint Konoka followed her, calling over her shoulder, "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight dear!" Nekane called fondly.

Setsuna led her down the stairs onto the second floor. She turned right and walked at a steady pace further down the corridor all the way down the back, passing luxurious, colourful parlour rooms with inside bars, booths with curved plush seats and tables, cool lighting in hues of blue and red and game rooms with pool tables, poker machines and stage shows inside with big glass doors with heavy brass handles.

"Your room's on the right further down," Setsuna told her, letting go of her hand and pointing towards a room on the right. "Don't worry about the mess."

Konoka started to thank Setsuna when the ceiling suddenly shuddered and an explosion rocked the floor, shaking bits of plaster loose.

"What's that?" Konoka asked curiously.

Instead of answering Setsuna walked further down, stopping in front of a metal door that had a cardboard No Entry sign literally engraved into the metal. The explosions were coming from inside. Something sputtered like a car engine stopping and starting.

Setsuna placed her hand on the door-knob which had a white paper charm wrapped around it and murmured, "_Aperiere_"

It was gypsyspeak for the word open. The charm had been a special trait that Setsuna herself had modified to make the enchantment work properly. The lock on the inside clicked open with a distinct pop and the door sprang open from the inside. It looked like a labatory of a mad artist. There were shelves lined with bottles of black ink, casements of feathered quills, fat tubes of water-colour and oil paints, glass jars with different sized brushes in them ranging from small, medium and large, piles of sketchbooks stacked up on top of one another, rolls of clean drawing paper scattered across the floor, boxes of lead pencils, two life-sized mannequins and an easel stacked up in the corner with a dozen sheets of paper pinned to the board. On the back wall was a massive board with notes scribbled on yellow notepad and rough sketches pinned messily to the board with thumb-tacks.

There was a cabinet at the side of the room with the labels like "machines/weapons", "animals", "myths", "costumes", "props" and "architecture" written in black pen on the front of the drawers. Since the cabinet was made out of glass they could see the untidy stack of papers in each drawer filled with unfinished drawings. Some of them were rough sketches while others were half painted. And right in the centre of the room standing behind a long metal work-table in the shape of a U was a girl in a white lab coat (which was already streaked with dried paint), with long green hair and wearing a pair of goggles that gleamed underneath the bright lighting of the room. There was a rocket on the table with the compartment open. Smoke was coming from the tail end. The girl had a metal glove on one hand while the other had a screw-driver which she was using to twist some knobs with frenzy.

"This is Haruna. She's in charge of costumes and props for shows!" Setsuna said having to raise her voice over the noise. "She's a conjurer and a mad scientist! Sometimes she works on the things she creates after she finishes creating them! She's the one I was telling you about!"

She stepped aside and took Konoka with her as a pocket-sized army tank rolled past their feet followed by about half a dozen others. There were even little soldiers in full camouflage inside, manning the machine guns installed at the top with their heads sticking out.

"Oh they're so cute," Konoka cooed, kneeling down to watch them.  
As the machine gun swivelled to face Konoka Setsuna dragged her back up to her feet and said, "Don't touch anything."

"Why?"

"Well-"

"Yes!" Haruna whooped, "Full speed ahead!"

The rocket broke free, spiralling out of control. Setsuna ducked as it hurtled towards her. The rocket soared over her head, smashing straight through the door leaving a hole. As screams and yells from inside pierced the air Haruna slowly stood up, counting. The rocket zipped back inside. Setsuna yanked Konoka out of the way as it careened towards them. Skimming Haruna's work-bench and scattering ink and water-colours everywhere it crashed through the window. Setsuna ran towards the window with Konoka behind her. The rocket was veering upwards towards the moon. Haruna squeezed in, pushing their heads down with glee in her eyes as she watched the rocket's trajectory. The rocket exploded with a deafening roar leaving a toxic orange mushroom cloud silhouetted against the moon. After a very long silence Haruna whistled.

"That went better than I expected!"

"Haruna's also dangerous," Setsuna finally said.

"Setsuna!" Haruna exclaimed, slinging her arm around Setsuna's shoulder, "Didn't see you there boss. What's up? Got something you need to me to do? Costumes? Props…? A new Colosseum?"

"No," Setsuna slipped out from underneath Haruna, tugging Konoka aside, "I just wanted you to meet-"

"Oho! Who's this, fresh meat?" Haruna crowed, starting to grin. She seemed to ignore the rest of what Setsuna had said.

There were very few things in this world that truly scared Setsuna. Failure and defeat were two but Haruna shot up to the top of the list when she'd first met her over four years ago as a then skilled, talented but still new to her powers as a conjurer bard Haruna had struck a chord of terror in Setsuna's heart that had her up all night. Setsuna shivered. It was the way Haruna's eyes gleamed sometimes whenever she got an insane idea. Setsuna started to turn to Konoka and blinked. Konoka was smiling at Haruna, friendly and completely fine.

"I'm Konoka," Konoka chirped. She bowed her head to Haruna respectfully, "It's nice to meet you."

As Haruna studied Konoka, her eyes lighting up Setsuna pulled Konoka closer, gazing at Haruna warily. And that's when Konoka looked at her and sent her a mesmorizing smile. Setsuna forgot all about the wolf.

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A.N: Hey readers! So it's been a while hey? Real life as usual got in the way. Next update hopefully soon depending on how busy I am! :] In the meantime enjoy and tell me what you think.


	4. Chapter 4

Silent. That was what it was but Konoka liked it. It was better than home where her uncle would be firing lightning whenever he got angry (which was a lot of the time), some of her sisters would be fighting and screaming with one another over who was the most beautiful and she'd hear one of her other uncles firing war cannons in the early hours of the afternoon. And her mother would bring home some boy every month who'd try to court her and win her heart. That never ended well especially when she told him that she didn't like him _th__at way_. Like that poor Negi boy. He hadn't wanted to do it but his mother had. It'd been even more awkward when he had said his mother was Konoka's uncle's daughter which made them distant relatives. It was good thing she wasn't related to him by blood. As she made her way down the corridor she passed a stain-glassed window that had a clear view of the forest at the back. Konoka gazed out at the forest, in awe. It was massive and stretched right into the horizon where she could see shapes, tiny mountains in the distance.

"Konoka?" A soft voice echoed across the air.

Konoka spun around guiltily. Moonlight poured through the window, casting rectangular ethereal pools of silver-blue over Setsuna and the floor. Setsuna was glowing, literally. Her skin was whiter than normal, a soft shine emanating from it. Her hair was silver-white. And she was looking at Konoka sleepily with baby blue eyes instead of dark brown.

"What are you doing up?" Setsuna blinked at her.

"I…why are you glowing and what happened to your eyes and hair?" Konoka said.

Setsuna looked confused for a moment then a light seemed to click on in her head. Running a hand through her hair distractedly she said, "Apparently I was blessed by the moon spirits when I was a baby. Not that they exist. I've only heard of them in legends and stories like the ones that Nodoka and Yue tell. So why are you wandering out here?"

"I thought I heard someone laughing," Konoka said.

"Oh," Setsuna rubbed her eyes. "That's probably Jack and Al talking about past times outside. They don't really sleep at night. Come on you shouldn't be up this late. It's dangerous to do that here."

She turned around and as she did Konoka thought she saw a pair of white feathered wings appear from her shoulders. Konoka gawked.

"Setsuna…your wings they're…" Konoka trailed off as Setsuna glanced over her shoulder at her questioningly, moving out of the moonlight.

The wings rippled away, her hair changed back to normal and the glow from her skin faded.

"Never mind," Konoka finished. She figured it was part of her being blessed.

Setsuna looked at Konoka strangely for a moment before continuing to walk again. Konoka stood there for a long moment, watching her before hurrying after her.

"I believe in moon spirits," Konoka said once she'd caught up to her, smiling.

It was dark so she couldn't see Setsuna properly but she sounded amused when she answered, "Really?"

"I've seen them," Konoka skipped ahead, getting excited. "They only come out at night-time when the moon replaces the sun and play and fool around in the rivers and streams out in the forest that are near the mountains."

"It was probably your imagination," Setsuna mused.

Pouting Konoka crossed her arms, "You're no fun. You're a gypsy aren't you where's your imagination?"

Setsuna looked at Konoka, a hint of curiosity in her eyes. The corners of her lips were lifting in a slight smile, "I'm not really a gypsy. I just learnt some basic abilities and skills from Al a long time ago that people who weren't born with innate gypsy magic can master."

Konoka deflated like a balloon. They walked like that for a while, in silence.

Then Konoka asked, "What were you before?"

"An ordinary bird demon," Setsuna replied.

She sounded resentful but before Konoka could think about it Setsuna said abruptly, "Do you want to see something?"

Surprised Konoka didn't say anything then she said brightly, "Sure."

Setsuna moved ahead of Konoka, stopping at a room on the left side with a wooden oak door with a bronze lion head handle and rapped briefly on the door twice.

"Nodoka, are you awake?" Setsuna called.

Before Konoka could ask who she was talking about the door opened revealing Nodoka. She had a plain white shirt with long billowing sleeves with lace and long cotton pants, the cuffs falling to the carpet.

"I was looking over the performance rosters for next week's opening show," Nodoka said sleepily rubbing her eyes.

"Hi," Konoka said.

"This is Konoka," Setsuna said. "You met her yesterday but you were pretty much asleep."

"I'm sorry Konoka," Nodoka murmured, "I was so tired."

"That's ok," Konoka beamed.

"I saved her a long time ago," Setsuna said.

"You told me you found her in the woods holding a book," Konoka frowned.

"She was running from a pack of wolves. She'd been cornered and she was protecting Yue," Setsuna said. "She's just like you."

Nodoka's eyes widened and suddenly she didn't look so sleepy anymore, "You mean…?"

"Yes well I didn't save her from wolves but from…" Setsuna paused, looking at Konoka puzzled, "From freak lightning?"

"Yep," Konoka nodded.

Nodoka's eyes flickered with an emotion Konoka couldn't place until it was gone. It was something of a mix of apprehension and caution. But that made no sense. Nodoka didn't have anything to be scared of. Her heart had beat just a little faster just then but in a few seconds it'd stopped and her face was relaxed again.

"It's nice to properly meet you Konoka. I'm a bard," Nodoka said shyly, "A story one."

"Nodoka's also in charge of the time-tabling," Setsuna told Konoka.

She waved her hand. The scrolls unfolded by themselves, the bottom hitting the floor. She snapped her fingers. The scrolls split apart as they did, with her other hand she waved it to the left side. The scrolls zoomed to the left in rhythm with her hand motion. Silver symbols appeared in a circle, looping around the scrolls and squeezed them into one pile. The symbols vanished into the first page which was blank. There was a flash of light and a leather-bound, silver book was floating in place where the scrolls had been with the title "The Uzoku Clan: Third Dynasty" on it.

Konoka looked furtively at Setsuna who smiled wryly at her, "Yes Konoka is there something you would like to ask?"

"The Uzoku clan are bird demons that live in the mountains up north. You said you were a bird demon so are they..." Konoka trailed off as Setsuna's eyes darkened.

"Setsuna was abandoned by the Uzoku tribe because of treason," Nodoka said quietly. "It's a sensitive topic."

"It's alright it happened a long time ago," Setsuna said.

Konoka caught sight of the date that was inscribed on the spine: 1900s.

"Setsuna, that says the 1900s. That's last century but you don't look…"

"I'm an immortal," Setsuna said curtly. "To cut a long story short Al saved me from execution and because of that I ended up with him taking care of this place."

Konoka hesitated. She wanted to ask why she was being executed in the first place but Setsuna's expression was closed, guarded.

"I take it you wanted to show the library?" Nodoka said, taking the book and glancing at Setsuna.

"If possible only for a short while," Setsuna nodded.

"Well only for half an hour," Nodoka said. "Yue wants to sleep then."

"Of course."

"Come inside then Konoka," Nodoka bowed her head to Konoka briefly and turned, heading back inside the room.

Konoka walked inside, Setsuna following and her jaw dropped. The room must have been magically enhanced because it was gigantic with a spiral stair-case that led to two upper floors and a bedroom on the right.

"This room's been enhanced by Al," Setsuna said, closing the door behind them. "It looks small on the outside but he found a spell that that made it bigger on the inside with a bedroom."

"Whoa," Konoka said in awe.

"You can read almost anything you like," Nodoka gestured. "But please don't touch the books with the gold tassels attached to them. They're sacred."

"Ok," Konoka said. She took Setsuna's hand and half-flinched. It was inhumanly cold.

"Sorry," Setsuna said, noticing and slipping her hand out of hers. "It gets cold whenever it absorbs the moon."

"It's ok…you really were blessed weren't you?" Konoka laughed.

Setsuna smiled slightly. "Yes…I suppose. You go I'll be here I need to talk about some things with Nodoka."

It was a book with a gold spine. The title read "The Fallen Prince" and it had an ink-drawn picture of a winged demon on the front striking a heroic pose with a big silver broadsword that tapered out at the top at the sides. The demon looked like Setsuna. Konoka sat down, opening it.

_He was a handsome prince, a little shy but possessed a good heart and the strength, determination and resilience of a warrior that could not be matched by anyone. As the sole heir to the throne he was to be crowned officially as a Prince on his 18__th__ birthday in a traditional ceremony. As Prince he would have to undertake more responsibility as he was to train the young males in the tribe to be capable, adept warriors with no fear. He would also inherit part of land that his father, the King, owned which was half the territory. The other half was owned by other bird demon tribes. At first the Prince enjoyed his newfound power, finding that he enjoyed training the younger demons and looking after his land to make sure that there would always be enough food for everyone. Then during the end of Winter a messenger from one of the bird tribes, the hawks, came to the tribe with an offer. The hawk tribe had a princess that they wanted to marry but the princess only had eyes for the prince and she refused to see anyone else or an eligible mate until she had seen him. The messenger told the King and Queen that the tribe was willing to offer the princess as a candidate for the prince's future mate. They were hesitant at first but the prince, thinking it would be rude to say no as the hawk tribe were one of their strongest clansmen, accepted the offer. He told his parents that even if it didn't work out it this arrangement would only strengthen the relationship between the two tribes and keep good terms with the hawk tribe if in the future they had any civil battles that arose from political or territorial conflicts. After some thought his parents agreed._

_The first meeting with the princess was at the end of the year. They met on the peak of one of the mountains dressed formally. She had blonde hair that was almost white that felt like silk and shone like the sands of a beach underneath sunlight. Her smile was wide and she was cheerful and happy, brimming with life. She had elegant brown wings, streaked with lighter shades. _

"_Ah…" The prince thought. "She looks so pretty. I should have brought a gift." _

_He bowed to her, getting on one knee and lowering his head, closing his eyes and placed his arm across his chest. _

"_Hello," He said in a clear strong voice. "It's a pleasure to meet you. May I ask your name?"_

_The princess giggled, taking the sides of her cotton dress in both hands and curtsied inclining her head, "Such a handsome prince and polite too. My name is Tsukuyomi, daughter of Lord Eno and Lady Atrice." _

_As custom demanded the prince took out his sword from his sheath and laid it down in front of the princess and declared, "I lay down my sword Princess Tsukuyomi, to protect you as you are my honoured guest and as a symbol of peace between the two tribes." _

_The princess smiled at the prince happily and as tradition demanded, knelt down in front of him and took his face gently in both hands, kissing him on the forehead. She whispered, "Thank you. I'll treasure this moment well."_

_She let go, standing up and bowed to him once before turning and taking off into the skies. The prince watched her go until she disappeared into the distance. He stood up, sliding his sword back in the sheath. This was only the first meeting to introduce themselves to one another and the prince thought to himself after a moment that he liked the princess. Soon after this meeting the princess visited them more frequently every month. The rest of the tribe began to grow accustomed to her, especially the King and Queen. One night however, the prince's best friend Azuma, the captain of his strongest team of warriors, came to him while he was getting ready to meditate with a worried look on his face. Wondering what was wrong the prince asked and what his friend had to say shocked him. _

"_The princess…she's dangerous," Azuma said. _

"_What are you talking about? That's ridiculous," He scoffed, waving his hand dismissively. _

"_No, listen to me brother," Azuma took his friend by the shoulders. "I was training one of the younglings how to attack in offensive in midair when the princess came. She asked to see you so I went to get you. I was a short distance away and left the younglings with her. I was a short distance away from you when I heard one of them scream. I looked back and saw the princess twisting one of the boys' wings. When I confronted her about it she denied it and said she was just having fun."_

_The prince, after hearing these words, didn't believe it at first. After knowing the princess he thought his best captain had just been seeing things but he made up his mind to see the princess about what Azuma had seen when he saw the princess next. _

_However this was not meant to be for the princess did not meet with the prince for the next 140 moons and suns. The prince, suspicious, flew over to the hawk tribe with his best warrior, the captain in the morning on the 141__st__ day to see what was wrong. Once he went past the guards he found the princess lying on a silk futon. The princess, as it turned out, was bed-ridden from a terrible virus she contracted during one of her meals. Her wings, once a healthy brown, were dull and the feathers unkempt and sparse, shedding. The prince, upon seeing her in such a sate, could not bring himself to ask her about what his friend had told her. Captain Azuma however, could. "Tell the prince what you did to that young warrior," He demanded._

_The princess coughed and said slyly, "Nothing I don't know what you're talking about."_

_The Captain's anger flared. He had always been hot-tempered. Storming over to the princess, he grabbed her by the front of her kimono and growled, "Tell him!"_

_The princess put on a hurt expression and whined to the prince, "He's hurting me! Is this how you're going to treat your future mate?"_

"_Have you gone mad?" The prince crossed over to them, taking the captain's arm away and frowned at him disapprovingly, "She's sick."_

"_She's a damn psycho," The captain spat throwing the princess a dirty look._

"_That's not very nice of you," The princess pouted. "Don't be so mean so a sick person!" _

_The prince, feeling sympathy for the princess, said to his friend, "Perhaps it would be better if you leave. I'll be back later this afternoon."_

_Azuma didn't want to go but on the prince's orders he left leaving the prince and princess alone. The prince spent the rest of the night at the princess's side tending and caring for her. The princess was secretly pleased for she had grown to love the prince and wanted to keep him all for herself. She had purposefully gotten sick in order to get the prince to come see her. When the prince collected wild berries from the surrounding forests for the princess to eat so that she could recover quickly the princess vowed to herself to win the prince's heart no matter what and began to think of what types of foods or magic she knew of that would enchant the prince and have him fall in love with her forever. When the prince returned from the forest with an armful of delicious berries she pretended to be asleep. The prince, suspecting nothing, sat down beside her and began to cut the berries into small slices using the edge of a small rock. He had made up his mind that Azuma had just been imagining things for he believed that the princess was sweet and kind. _

_The next morning he returned back to the tribe but not before making a promise with the princess that they would meet again in seven days underneath the skies where the constellations formed to create a centaur with an armed bow when the moon was full. He received a chaste kiss from her and that was when he felt the first fluttering of romance take flight in his prince vowed then and there that he would bring medicine for her to get better when they met in case she was still sick. Next morning the princess consulted the tribe's shaman while she was being cured of her virus by drinking herbal remedy brewed from juices from plants. Pretending that she was curious she tricked him into telling her what she would need to capture the prince's heart and make him hers forever. Starting from tonight she would need to collect the juice of saplings that grew from the willow trees near the mountain homes of the hawk tribe and for the next seven days, collect a handful of water on each night from the rivers at exactly the time when the moon had reached its peak. Each night she would have to mix the water with the juice and add it bit by bit until it filled the size of a hollow carved out bowl that would fit in the hand made from the bark of one of the trees. The princess followed the shaman's instructions and true to his word, when she met with the prince underneath the constellation of the armed centaur she gave him the liquid that she had mixed to drink telling him that it was a hawk tribe tradition. Being far too trusting and not wanting to offend her, the prince drank all of it. Under the influence of the potion the prince immediately fell in love with her and declared that he wanted to marry her in the following month and start a family with her. Elated the princess sent him back to his tribe and went back to hers to tell her tribe the good news. When the prince told his parents about his intentions they were baffled and amazed but they accepted their son's feelings without question. The captain though was not as quick to believe the prince's words and suspecting foul play but there was nothing he could do. In the next month in front of the two clans, underneath the skies the princess and prince exchanged marriage vows and bound their heart, their lives and clans to each other for eternity.  
_

_At first everything went well. The princess treated the prince's mother and father and the rest of the clan with respect and kindness then one night while they were with the rest of the warriors the boy whose wing the princess had hurt approached the prince. He pulled the prince aside away from the princess and told her what she had done to him. Instead of being concerned the prince grew angry at the boy for accusing the princess of doing something so cruel. When the boy persisted the prince grew angrier and picked him up, aiming his sword at the boy's chest. He warned him that if he ever said anything bad about the princess again the prince would have him locked up in one of the caves for one month. Terrified, the boy said nothing else. The prince let the boy go and turned but Azuma was standing there, looking at the prince in shock. Ignoring him the prince walked past him back to where the princess was. _

_Azuma rushed over to the boy and asked, "What happened?" _

"_I-I don't know," The boy stammered. "I just told him what the princess did to me and he hurt me. He said he'd lock me up if I ever said anything bad about her again." _

_After hearing what the boy said the captain was certain that the princess was evil or at least, had malicious intentions and he was equally certain that the prince was under an enchantment of some sort because of the way the prince had been behaving and the suddenness of the marriage. Azuma had known the prince ever since they were children and he knew that the prince was not the type to fall in love so easily and marry someone he had only known for a short amount of time. After some thought, Azuma resolved to cure the prince by knocking some sense into him. The eagle tribe had no shaman and time was running out. By bird demon tradition after the prince and princess married they would go make a family of their own in one of the surrounding mountains in another seven days. It was decided and preparations were planned. During that time the captain took the prince aside numerous times when he could to talk with him. The captain had decided that he would resort to physical means to cure the prince if talking didn't work. The prince would not listen to the captain though and insisted that the princess was kind and good and innocent._

"_This is crazy she's killed someone and you're still protecting her?!" The captain roared. _

"_I love her," The prince said. _

"_She's insane. She's going to kill the tribe and you're going to just let her?" The captain stared at the prince, unable to believe his friend was behaving like this.  
The prince paused, some of the captain's words seeming to penetrate the spell but the princess called, "Don't believe anything he says! He's just trying to get in our way!" _

_Shaking his head the prince pointed his sword at the captain, "She's right. Now desist at once or I'll have to hurt you." _

"_Then you leave me no choice," The captain said and lunged at the princess. _

_The prince darted in front of the princess, sword raised and swiped. A burst of white energy and lightning sprung forth from the sword at the captain who blocked just in time. Landing the captain charged again but the prince met him head-on, the sound of their blades clashing ringing through the air. _

"_I told you to stop this at once!" The prince snapped, pushing him. _

"_Wake up! You're under a spell can't you see?!" The captain grunted. _

_The prince shoved the captain back and said, "I won't let anyone hurt her, not even you!" _

"_Then I'm sorry."_

_The captain threw a branch at the prince, distracting him and rushed the princess sword raised ready to stab her. The prince was faster though and tackled the captain down, the impact as they hit the flat of the mountain making both of them drop their swords. They skidded towards the edge of the mountain, wrestling with one another in a flurry of limbs and flapping wings, their swords forgotten. They rolled, tumbling off and landed on a narrow ledge that jutted out from the mountain. _

"_Don't make me hurt you!" The prince snarled, trapping the captain's arms behind him. _

_The captain kicked the prince in the chest and being bigger than the prince, it hurt him. The pain was enough to make the prince let go. _

"_Snap out of it!" The captain held the front of the prince's shirt with one hand and punched him hoping that would cure him. _

_The prince just spat blood at the captain, his face twisting into a furious snarl, "It's a pity you can't see her like I do." _

_Without hesitation the prince reached inside the swathes of his pants and pulled out a dagger and vaulted forwards, plunging it into the captain's heart down to the hilt. Eyes widening the captain let go, staggering backwards and fumbled with the hilt of the dagger as blood spurted from the wound splashing over the craggy wall of the mountain behind the prince and over his clothes. _

"_You…" The captain whispered. He fell off the ledge, wings flapping weakly and plummeted into the forest dying. _

_It was this sight of seeing his best warrior and most of all, his best friend, fellow kinsman and blood brother fall to his death that made the princess's spell break. The prince, white-faced, fell back. _

"_What…what's going…?" The prince stuttered, horrified. _

_Cruel laughter echoed above him. The princess was peering over the edge, a look of delight on her face. _

"_Excellent! That was excellent!" She crowed. _

_The prince, filling with grief, only stared at his blood-spattered hands unable to believe what he had just done. He crawled to the edge, looking out over the forest canopy desperately for his friend. When he didn't his grief began to turn into rage. With a roar he spun around and flew upwards, pouncing on the princess and pinning her down, his hand wrapped around his throat. He grabbed his sword and plunged it at the princess's heart. The princess twisted, avoiding the blade and kicked the prince making him get off her. _

"_Thank you for killing him," She said, getting to her feet. "He would have been a problem later on." _

_The prince pointed his sword at her, shaking in hatred and rage and said, "What did you do to me? The last thing I remember is drinking that juice you gave me." _

"_I enchanted you, the drink was a love spell. It was so easy as well because you're so gullible and naïve," The princess laughed. "I played a sweet, lovable princess and you believed me. You believed me instead of your most trusted friend!" _

_She picked up the captain's sword which was lying nearby and grinned at the prince, her eyes turning demonic. The prince took a step back, horror coming over him. He had never seen anything like that before and he knew in that instant that the princess was evil. _

"_What are you?" He demanded. _

_The princess looked at the prince innocently, "I'm a hawk demon my prince. What else would I be?"_

"_Don't lie to me!" The prince raised his voice, getting angry. _

"_Oh alright," The princess frowned. "I'm a demon who possessed her when she was a fledgling. I was never the real princess. The real princess died a long time ago. Are you happy now?" _

"_I'll kill you," The prince said. "I'll kill you and burn you so you'll never harm another soul again." _

"_Such a pity I really was looking forward to our offspring," The princess sighed. "Oh well…" _

_With a grin she attacked the prince and for the next hour the skies were alive with the sounds of metal clashing against one another as the two fought each other in a deadly dance of metal and lightning. Finally the prince managed to gain the upper hand and had fought her to a standstill, kicking her sword out of her hands.  
"You won't do it," The princess jeered. "And once I kill you, I'll have control over both tribes. You're not needed for the plan." _

"_Forgive me," The prince whispered and gathering his courage drove his sword through the princess's cold black heart. _

_The princess gasped, shock filling her face and stared at the prince with hurt eyes. She gripped the prince's arm in disbelief then the life faded from her eyes. She was dead. She slumped over in his arms. _

"_Tsukuyomi!"_

_The prince whirled around. The princess's parents along with the rest of the hawk tribe clan and her clan had seen what the prince had done. _

"_I…" The prince said. _

"_You killed her," The princess's father, Lord Eno said, staring at the prince. His face was already twisting in anger. "You killed my daughter!"_

"_Wait," The prince's mother said quickly. "Perhaps-"_

"_Your son killed my daughter! Her blood is on his sword!" Lord Eno roared. _

"_No please," The prince's mother flew over to him, taking his hand in hers and asked, "Son did your hand slip? Did you hit her by mistake?"_

_The prince, already overcome with grief, looked at his mother with wet eyes and shook his head. His mother's face fell for she tried to save him. If he had answered yes then he would have only been punished horribly but not killed as the rule decreed that anyone who intentionally killed the princess of the hawk tribe would be executed by the bird demon's tribe. The prince was to be executed in seven moons at sunrise by his warriors while the princess' tribe and his tribe looked on. The prince's tribe did not want this to happen and were secretly wishing that the pince would run and save himself, come back later and prove himself once more as their noble prince rather than face death. His mother, the Queen, thought desperately of a plan to save her son for the King was so filled with grief for the princess's death as he had liked her very much as a daughter in law that he could not look at his son as anything other than a murderer. His mother, having seen a clan of gypsies taking camp near the rocky terrain on the other side of the mountain, flew over to their camp on the night before the prince was to be executed under the cover of darkness when everyone else in the tribe was sleeping. The gypsies were nomads, wanderers who had been travelling past the mountains to a place where gypsy clans from all over the country met for a magical gathering that occurred on each year where they celebrated dance, music and their innate and learned magical powers as gypsies. Gypsies had always been friendly towards them and they were strange, mystical beings to the bird tribes and so the Queen, hoping they could help her son, approached one of them when he was by himself repairing a broken wooden lute. He had a pearl white cloak on with billowing long sleeves and his face was half covered by his hood but the Queen could see a smile on his face as she approached him, coming to a slow halt in the air. Even in the darkness the gypsy's cloak was so bright it reminded the Queen of freshly fallen snow shimmering underneath moonlight at night. The gypsy raised his head, looking at the Queen curiously. _

"_Hello there," He echoed. _

"_Hello I am the Queen of the Eagle Tribe to the north," The Queen said hesitantly. _

"_Pleasure to meet you my Queen. Is there something you require of me?" He said curtly. _

"_Yes," The Queen said. "I have a favour to ask you."_

_The gyspy looked at the lute thoughtfully, reflecting on her words and after a moment said, "What is it you ask?" _

"_We have always been kind to your people and you to us," The Queen said. "My son…I ask that you take him under your wing and raise him as one of you."_

"_Such a bold request," The gypsy mused. "What may I ask has propelled you to ask this of me, a mere gypsy?" _

"_My son is to be executed tomorrow morning at sundown for a murder he is not guilty of," The Queen said. She moved closer to the gypsy and took his hands in hers looking up into his face pleadingly, "Please, I beg of you help me. I do not wish to see him killed for a crime he didn't commit." _

_The gypsy, taking pity on the Queen, agreed. They formed a plan together. The gyspy would appear under a cover of flames just before the prince was to be executed and whisk him to safety far away. He would then be disguised as one of their own using a spell in case any of the bird tribe came looking for him among the gypsies if suspicion of the Queen working with the gypsy was aroused. He said he would come at sundown tomorrow and take the prince away with him from the tribe. The Queen told him that he must never tell him what had transpired until he was older and must believe that he has been banished from the clan. She made a promise with the gypsy that she and he would meet again at this very spot 22 years later with her son. _

Konoka started to flip the next page when her elbow bumped into a nearby book making it fall to the floor with a noisy thud. Quickly checking to make sure Nodoka and Setsuna hadn't heard she bent, starting to pick it up and froze, staring. It was open on its spine and a purple-haired head had poked out of the middle of the pages.

It blinked looking up at her with clear purple eyes and said in a mildly surprised voice, "Oh hello there."

* * *

A.N: So this was going to be longer than I realized it was too long. And two mistakes I have to address in the previous chapter: The scene when Konoka leaves the room. She was meant to go to take a shower but due to editing I over-looked that and Nekane was not meant to be in there when Konoka was leaving at the ending scene. Hope that clears things up.

KeeperAki: Yep you can count on at least six more appearing in this fic and maybe a few more others depending on how the story plays out :). Yuuna, Makie and Kaede are some that I am planning on having. I'll leave it up to you to guess the rest :P.


	5. Chapter 5

Konoka screamed, dropping the book.

"Ow," The head winced.

Konoka swiped the nearest book, raising it with trembling hands. A pair of shoulders followed the head, then a body and a pair of legs all clad in a night-shirt and pants. Climbing out of the book and shaking a leg, the girl that had come out stretched.

"I hope you're not planning on hitting me with that. It's been through two fires and a faery attack," She said, looking at Konoka nonchalantly. She had a monotone voice, reserved.

"I…w-what did you think I'd do?" Konoka stammered putting the book down. "You scared the pants off me."

"Ah…well sorry about that I didn't expect company," She said. "Who are-?"

"Konoka!" Setsuna skidded into view, almost crashing into the wall of the bookcase. "Are you ok?"

"Y-Yeah but…"

"Oh Konoka?" The girl echoed. "The gypsy?"

"How do you know my name?" Konoka looked at her, confused.

"Konoka, is everything alright?" Nodoka cried out, almost colliding with Setsuna.

"Y-Yeah," Konoka nodded. She started to put the book down.

"Nodoka told me about you," The girl pointed her thumb at Nodoka. "I was away in one of my worlds when you came. Nodoka saw the whole thing through her window."

"This is Yue," Nodoka said. "She's a story bard like me. Jumping into her own worlds that she created is a favourite hobby of hers."

"Mm but Nodoka's the one that more gifted," Yue replied.

Nodoka looked sheepish. Setsuna, looking relieved crossed over to Konoka kneeling down to pick up the book she'd dropped.

"Konoka," Setsuna said slowly. She was getting up, tracing the spine with a finger. "I thought Nodoka told you not to read the books with the gold spines."

Somehow Konoka felt like she'd been caught in a naughty act. She swallowed. Setsuna didn't sound angry but her voice was tight.

"Y-Yeah but I thought I'd take a little peek. The book looked so enticing and…I'm sorry," Konoka said.

Setsuna closed her eyes. She seemed to be counting her head. Then letting out a deep breath she said, "It's alright. Just don't do this again ok?"

Yue pulled something out from her pockets-a small shining blue crystal.

"Found it," She announced.

As Setsuna put the book back in its place Konoka looked at the crystal. It was transparent and had sharp, angular edges. It was doing something odd though-whenever the light caught it the crystal it would reflect bright green and red light.

"What is that? I've never seen something like that before," Konoka asked, shielding her eyes and squinting.

"I'm not quite sure myself. Sometimes when I create these worlds small details like the environment tend to appear without my knowing. It's only when I go inside that I discover things like this that I didn't write in the story before I put the book together," Yue said. "It's a good thing though. It means I have more materials to play and experiment with."

"Yue's an alchemist. Whenever she goes into the world of the stories she's created she brings home things like this," Nodoka explained.

"I can break this down into its finer compounds and extract the minerals," Yue murmured. "For the Elixir…"

Beside her Setsuna gave a jerk of her head, a very bird-like motion and asked, "Elixir? You're still working that?"

"Of course you know I never back down from a challenge," Yue nodded.

"What elixir?" Konoka looked at her.

"An elixir that would eliminate emotions completely," Yue said. She looked at the crystal again, "I've been trying to find the last ingredient for the elixir for over a year now and I think this crystal may be the one."

"But…that's horrible," Konoka's forehead creased, perturbed by the idea. "Emotions are the most important things for people. Without them we'd just be robots."

"Well this is purely for experimental purposes. To separate emotion from humans would be like separating water from a river. It's illogical and ludicrous," Yue reassured her. "I''m only doing this because of a bet I took up from Al years ago when I joined the palace."

"It's horrible. I wouldn't want to live without feeling anything," Konoka shivered.

Setsuna paused with her hand on the spine of the book, her expression growing distant for a split second. Slipping it off, she turned to Konoka and extended the book to her, "Well since you've already started would you like to finish reading the rest of the story?"

Yue was looking at her thoughtfully. Konoka was slightly unnerved but she decided not to let that show. Konoka reached out for the book, taking it. As their hands brushed against each other Konoka felt something-a flash of pulsing, raw untapped power that lurked just beneath the surface, primal and beastly. It didn't feel like a demon's. Konoka looked at Setsuna in surprise but she didn't seem to notice anything. As she took the book Konoka felt Nodoka's heart quicken. She was nervous for some reason.

"Do you need it?" Konoka asked her.

"No take it," Nodoka shook her head, her hair falling over her eyes. "It's fine."

Setsuna headed over to the door, pushing it open and gestured for Konoka to go first. Glancing at Nodoka and Yue Konoka said, bowing, "Thanks for letting me burrow your book and I'm sorry about dropping you Yue."

Yue gave her a slight smile, "It happens. You're not the first one so don't worry."

Konoka smiled back at her then said to both of them, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," They echoed.

As Konoka walked out she heard Setsuna asking Nodoka in a low voice, "Are we filled for the opening show?"

"Yes," Nodoka replied. "Booked out."

Setsuna murmured something then headed out, closing the door behind her.

"Do you guys do shows all the time here?" Konoka asked.

"Once a month," Setsuna said. "We change it every year. Tomorrow's our opening for this year's new show. If it goes well we'll run it every fortnight one month from now until we change it again next year."

"Sounds like fun," Konoka said.

"It's not really," Setsuna said, starting to walk down the corridor. She made a face, "Haruna always finds a way to make it chaotic. Al does the same thing but more stealthily and we always lose a worker because of some mishap with a dangerous animal Haruna's created."

"What?"

"Don't worry they're just paper dolls basically," Setsuna said, catching sight of Konoka's paling face. "They're not real and neither are the animals but it makes a mess."

Konoka had fallen into step beside Setsuna and the two were walking in a comfortable rhythm. They passed arched windows that over-looked the grounds. Konoka caught a glimpse of the colosseum which was whole again, a flawless dome glass, four entry hallways and metal cages hanging from the ceiling by a chain made out of glowing golden light with fixed robots inside that were de-activated. It looked like it'd never been touched.

"Whoa," Konoka whispered as she saw the chains glitter. She'd never seen anything like that before back at home.

Then she realized Setsuna had continued to walk ahead, walking towards the stair-case at the end of the hallway.

"Wait for me!" Konoka cried out, running to catch up to her with the book in her arms.

Setsuna stopped, turning. She didn't seem to realize Konoka wasn't walking beside her.

Once she caught up Setsuna had a curious look on her face and said, "So what part of the story were you up to anyway?"

"The part where the prince was about to be executed," Konoka said.

Setsuna's face was unreadable, a mask made out of porcelain. Konoka thought she saw something in her eyes when she answered but as soon as she cared to look properly Setsuna's expression was guarded again.

"That picture on the front of the book…it looked like you," Konoka said.

Setsuna's head jerked to the side slightly, much like a bird's. She looked at Konoka, "You're mistaken. Nodoka used me as inspiration for her story about the prince. She has a very active imagination."

They walked in silence for a short while. Konoka snuck glances at Setsuna along the way. Since the windows were so large and the moon was facing this side every time she walked underneath the light that was streaming through her form would change for just a few seconds. Her hair would shift to white and her dark brown eyes lightened to a gentle, clear light blue. And her wings appeared again, folded inwards and shimmered, the feathers looking fuller and softer.

"Secchan…have you ever thought that maybe some stories might be true?" Konoka asked as they neared the stair-way.

Considering Setsuna said, "Some."

Konoka smiled at her, striding past her. She said, "Maybe you weren't just blessed."

Setsuna looked at her confused, "What are you-?"

"Thanks for vouching for me. I'll be a good worker I promise," Konoka hugged her.

"Don't mention it," Setsuna stiffened underneath her pushing her away gently.

Konoka pulled back, crossing her arms and gave Setsuna a firm look, "You can't keep on doing that."

Setsuna rubbed the back of her head, a slightly embarrassed look coming to her face and mumbled, "It's…I mean I'm not very good with that kind of stuff."

"I'm not going to bite," Konoka laughed, enveloping her in another hug and pulling away.

Setsuna looked terrified but she was trying not to show it.

"You should sleep. Rehearsal starts early tomorrow," Setsuna said thickly.

"Oh alright then," Konoka said.

As she started to walk down the stairs Setsuna reached out, "Do you need any help finding your way back to your room?"

"I'll be fine," Konoka said smiling. She summoned a ball of fire to her palm, "See? I've got a light."

She leaned forwards playfully, pretending she was going to kiss her. Setsuna froze. When Konoka pulled back, giggling Setsuna seemed to relax a little. She was so easy. She started to walk down the banister, one hand on the banister the other holding the fire out so she could see the steps in the dark. She paused further down, glancing over her shoulder. Setsuna was watching her, her expression calm once more.

"Setsuna…" Konoka hesitated. "What happened to the prince? He wasn't really executed was he? I mean, it wasn't his fault what he did."

Setsuna's eyes flickered, pain flashing in them for just a brief moment enough for Konoka to catch.

"He was saved and after that…well he lived out the rest of his life as a normal person working hard and earning a living," Setsuna said after a long moment.

Konoka's eyes held hers and something passed between them, a static of tension but strangely, curiosity then Setsuna said curtly, "Goodnight Konoka."

She turned around, the darkness swallowing her.

"Goodnight Secchan," Konoka murmured and continued down the stairs.

She heard a chuckle ring through the air and a faint voice, Setsuna, drift through the air, "Secchan?"

Konoka's lips turned in a satisfied smile. She sounded like she'd liked it and Konoka was sure...sure that Setsuna had been the prince. Maybe, just maybe she could lie low until she was safe. She'd never been with a bird demon prince before after all. Her mother had always told her to keep her heart, as well as her mind open.

* * *

A.N: So originally this was part of chapter four then I realized it was waaaaaay too long so I put it in a separate chapter. Til next time Blue out-


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning when Setsuna took Konoka down to the re-built Colosseum where the opening show would be held for the circus she was nervous. She was so nervous that she rambled on to Konoka about how the Colosseum was used for the holding shows for the circus component of the palace that was held every month after the opening show along with the rest of the normal functions of the palace. She didn't know what Konoka would think of her as after she read the story. She'd killed her best friend. Setsuna could still remember seeing the body fall from the ledge, lifeless like the strings cut from a puppet. As they walked down the corridor of the Colosseum that led towards the main area Setsuna snuck a side glance to Konoka. She had been strangely quiet on the way here, distracted almost.

"So…how much have you read of the story?" Setsuna asked her, watching carefully for her reaction.

"Hmmm," Konoka looked down thoughtfully. "Well not much. I got distracted because I heard some weird noises coming from Haruna's room."

"Really…?" Setsuna said, confused.

"Yep it sounded like crazed laughter," Konoka said. She looked at Setsuna seriously, "Does Haruna have problems?"

"Um not that we know of…" Setsuna said.

At that moment they heard someone shout gleefully, "It's alive!"

Haruna was standing at the end of the corridor, hands on her hips with a sketchpad and a quill in both hands. As Setsuna slapped her forehead with her hand Konoka stifled a grin.

"So what else did you read?" Setsuna asked her, glaring at Haruna. There was a pause.

"The part after the Queen asked for the gypsy's help. The part where the prince was imprisoned for treason while his warriors searched for the captain's body," Konoka said softly.

Setsuna stiffened. She felt Konoka's eyes on her, piercing as if they were peering right into her soul. She was watching Setsuna, her face unreadable. A rectangular shadow was splayed across her face.

Setsuna could still remember sitting in the hollow cave in the mountains her wings and wrists bound, with her father guarding her. He hadn't even looked at her once not even when they'd put the blind-fold on for the execution.

"What else?" Setsuna asked, swallowing. Her voice sounded like gravel.

Konoka didn't take her eyes off her and Setsuna thought there was something sympathetic in her eyes.

"Just the part when they found the captain's body in the river," Konoka said in the same soft voice.

Setsuna felt her throat constrict. She remembered that too. It'd been a little over 20 years but she could still see it in her mind. Fingers grasped hers-Konoka's. She gestured to the wall where a rune was etched into it, one that looked like a sleek inverted v with a line across it.

"What's this?"

"That's what we use to open the show. You just have to touch it," Setsuna said.

"I've never heard of runes doing that before," Konoka said.

"It's Yue and Al's work," Setsuna said. "Yue was researching energy and heat. She wanted to see if you could extract energy from people and harness it to use it as power sources."

"How do you do that?" Konoka looked at her, confused.

"A needle," Setsuna replied, her hand going to her arm sub-consciously. Catching Konoka looking at her questioningly Setsuna said hastily, "Not that I had anything to do with it."

Konoka's eyes crinkled at the corners, a slight smile curving the corners of her lips, "So this rune controls the lights?"

"Yes. It responds to heat and energy which in turn connects to thoughts in the brain," Setsuna said. "All you need is one person to stand here and use it. It's usually Yuuna's job."

Setsuna took Konoka's hand, tugging her gently down to the end of the corridor beside Haruna.

"Hey guys," Haruna said when they approached.

"Morning Haruna," Konoka said. She looked out across the arena. The cages were gone and in their place, was a tight-rope set up connected to two platforms. Konoka said, "What happened to the Colosseum? Where're the robots and the cages and the platforms?"

"Look up there," Setsuna gazed up to the ceiling. Konoka followed suit-and her eyes grew big, her mouth opening in surprise.

There, hanging from the ceiling was a net of shimmering, golden light that was riddled with runic letters. Each robot was sitting or lying on the net as if they were made out of air. Some were playing Go Fish or poker with one another. Others were louging around. Some were talking animatedly to one another.

"..They weren't like that before," Konoka said slowly, astounded.

"Yeah well," Haruna tapped her chin, watching them thoughtfully. "It's the magic in the air. The only other time it's happened is when the Colosseum was burnt down. We re-built it just like how we did now and it was…stronger than this."

"The robots went wild. We had an uprising on our hands," Setsuna said.

"Did you make that?" Konoka asked Setsuna, "The net?"

"That would be Al's work," Setsuna said. She paused, looking around and asked Haruna, "Where is he anyway?"

"Teleported out when he did this," Haruna said, shrugging.

"Haruna!" Ayaka called. "Get the sky up!"

"Sky?" Konoka echoed.

"Yep," Haruna winked at her. She ripped out a page, etching a line in with a flourish and clicked her fingers.

A canvas of white stars spilled forth from the page, shooting across the air in miniature blurs. They spread out across the ceiling, settling in haphazard spots and suddenly, velvet and black colours seeped across the air like ink, blotting out the net and robots until the ceiling became a canvas of night-time sprinkled with shining white orbs.

"Y'know…" Haruna said coyly, "We don't usually do this at rehearsals. I just make the platforms and create all the props and stuff not the ceiling but Setsuna here wanted you to see-mppppf!"

Setsuna clapped her hand over Haruna's mouth, plastering a strained smile over her face, "I just didn't want you to feel uncomfortable."

Konoka was giggling behind her hands, the corners of her eyes crinkled upwards in a heart-stopping smile. It was enough for Setsuna to loosen her hold.

Taking Setsuna's hand away from her Haruna said with an even bigger grin, "That's what she wants you to thin-"

Setsuna shoved Haruna away, glowering at her just as Ayaka shouted Haruna's name. Ayaka was storming towards them, a vein popping in her head. She had what looked like autumn leaves in her hair and was sopping wet for some reason.

"Hey boss!" Haruna said, beaming at her as she reached them. "You look like you could use a drink. Here why don't you have some of-"

"Enough!" Ayaka cut her off, composing herself and closing her eyes.

With her eyes still closed, Ayaka raised a finger pointing at the ceiling. The robots' feet were still visible, poking through the kaleidoscope of lights and stars.

"Oh you're worried about that?" Haruna said dismissively, waving her hand. "Easy fix! I'll just get some ink from my room. Be back in a few!"

Whistling, she strode past them down the corridor. Turning to them, Ayaka muttered something about loose cannons and psychopathic, delusional people. She had a furrow in her brow, a troubled look on her face. Of course she looked as immaculate and refined, elegant as ever even if she was wearing a coconut bra and hulu skirt with a broad-shouldered red coat tapered at the waists. She had her hair tied up in braids, bangs pulled back making her look like an exotic princess.

"I thought you didn't want to wear that," Setsuna said, looking at her in surprise. "This is just rehearsal."

Ayaka's expression darkened, her lips forming a slight scowl.

"Al sped up the date of the show. We're opening tomorrow we have to rehearse now," Ayaka said.

"Why would he do that?" Setsuna frowned. "That makes no sense. Konoka might not be able to perform well if she's not prepared."

Ayaka glanced at Konoka, "I assume he's testing her. What is it that you can do?"

"I'm really flexible," Konoka beamed.

"You can be with Makie then for the opening and hold the mirror," Ayaka said. She gestured for them to follow and walked down to a girl who was twirling a ribbon in the air gracefully, making large loops and hoops with effortless grace, "Follow me."

As they got closer the girl started to go faster and began to make animal shapes-a lion, a zebra, a bear in rapid fire succession. The shapes hung there, then the lion roared and the zebra galloped away. The bear didn't move. Makie snapped her wrist and the lion and bear were suddenly fighting one another. Setsuna waited until Makie drew to a swift halt, the lion and bear melding together and the ribbons dropping to the floor in a smooth arc.

Noticing Konoka and Setsuna the girl waved at them, "Hi!"

Nudging Konoka forwards (she looked kind of apprehensive), Setsuna said, "Makie. This is Konoka she's going to be helping you and Yuuna."  
Konoka looked around, "But I don't see any-"

"Boo!" Someone tackled Konoka from behind, making her stagger.

A girl with tied up rough light brown hair and twinkling blue eyes was hugging Konoka from behind in a bear hug. It was Yuuna, another girl that helped at the show.

"Um c-can y-you p-please g-get off me?" Konoka stammered.

Yuuna let go, laughing, "Sorry I thought I'd have some fun with you."  
"This is Yuuna she's a show-girl. She helps with the opening act with Makie," Setsuna said. She added as Yuuna winked at her, "She's friendly, just very playful."

"Yep," Yuuna said. "Makie's the gymnast in the act but I've got some other tricks."

"What kind of tricks?" Konoka asked nervously, standing close to Setsuna.

"Imitation," Yuuna said with a slow grin that stretched from ear to ear.

Right in front of their eyes she started to change, her hair growing longer, straightening and darkening a shade into chocolate brown. Her eyes changed to the same colour, deep, rich and warm. She shortened a few inches, her clothes sagging as her body thinned, becoming visibly curvier at the hips and waist. Within seconds an exact replica of Konoka was standing in Yuuna's place.

"I'm a shape-shifter," Yuuna said in Konoka's voice, grinning. "I can change into anyone I've seen down the last detail and copy everything including their voice."

"That is…" Konoka said, staring at her.

"It's freaky I know but-"

"That is so cool!" Konoka gushed, her eyes shining. "You look exactly like me. I've never met anyone here who could shape-shift before."

"Here?" Ayaka looked at her. "What do you mean here?"

"Oh! I meant on my travels," Konoka said with a small laugh. "You know I've been travelling across the country but I've never met any human shapeshifters before. I rarely see any."

Something nagged at Setsuna's mind. That didn't make sense. Human shapeshifters were common. It was one of the most common abilities to have for people who had magical powers. Then again people who had magical powers weren't that common either. It was one of the main attractions for people who came to this place to watch their shows.

"Well let's start by sorting out your clothes," Ayaka said though she was still looking at Konoka slightly suspiciously.

She opened the box and pulled out a long, red royal-looking coat that was tapered at the middle so the bottom spanned out with gold trims, buttoned cuffs with large sleeves and tasselled gold shoulder-pads, a wide-rimmed, glittering red bowler hat with a fluffy pink feather threaded into the side, a loose, fitting white dress shirt and a pair of tight-fitting red shorts that were extremely, extremely short.

"I have to wear that?" Konoka said.

"Yes," Ayaka said. "It's showy but not too much and reveals the right amount of skin. You'll be wearing knee-high boots as well on the day so really, you're covered. You can go get changed in my dressing room."

Konoka took the clothes and paused, seeming to have seen something in the line of the stitching, "There's a name here…Sayo Aisaka. Who is she?"

Suddenly looking uncomfortable Ayaka said, "She lived at the palace a long time ago."

"She's a ghost!" Twin voices chorused from behind Setsuna.

Jumping Setsuna almost shot ten feet into the air. She whirled around, annoyed. Two small girls with pink hair were standing behind her, their hands behind their backs. They had identical impish grins plastered on their faces with large innocent blue eyes.

"Don't ever do that again," Setsuna said.

"Is that her?" The twin with the ponytail asked excitedly, inching her head around Setsuna.

"Yes," Setsuna said. "And I would ask you not to stare at her like a zoo animal."

"Oh it's alright Secchan," Konoka said. In a quieter voice she asked, "Ghost?"

"She lived here a long time ago. Her ghost is still here" Setsuna said. As the colour faded from Konoka's face she added quickly, "She's harmless really."

"I'm Fumika!" The twin with the ponytail chirped.

"And I'm Fuuka," The twin with her hair done in a bun added.

"What are you two doing here?" Ayaka sighed. "Didn't I ask you two to look after the garden at the back of the palace?"

"Yeah but Fumika wanted to see the new girl!" Fuuka said.

"They're part of the circus show as well," Setsuna said to Konoka as her expression turned more and more confused.

"We're ribbon twirlers and acrobats!" They sang.

Fuuka demonstrated by taking Makie's twirling ribbon from her and swung it downwards, flicking her wrist. As she did her twin did a hand-stand, hopping over the ribbon as Fuuka spun it so it lashed out. The ribbon swirled around in a mini hurricane, whipping through the air and got caught around Setsuna in a cacoon of pink.

"Girls…" Setsuna said dangerously. Sheepishly, Fuuka dropped the ribbon twirler.

"Why don't you two go over there?" Ayaka suggested as Setsuna's fingers twitched.

"Ok come on Fumika," Fuuka said nervously, tugging her sister back.

As they hurried over to the seats their forms started to change. They seemed to grow taller all of a sudden older then just as quickly shrank even lower than their original size then grew taller again.

"What are they…?" Konoka asked.

"We don't think they're shape-shifters because they can't change into anyone else," Setsuna mumbled as Makie carefully unwound the ribbon from Setsuna. "But we don't really know what they are. We found them hiding in the Colosseum one night from the rain starving. They had scratches all over them and they were bleeding."

"They haven't really changed though I mean they still look the same," Yuuna said. "It's really weird. We think they had a spell cast on them when they were babies or something."

"How old are they?"

"We don't really know," Setsuna said.

"I've got a bet with Haruna that they're immortal and had a spell cast on them ages ago when they were babies but they just don't know it," Yuuna chuckled.

"That's a pretty wild guess," Konoka said blinking.

"I've known them for eight years now and they look exactly the same as they did when I first saw them. It's a good bet," Yuuna said.

"Well in any case go get dressed," Ayaka said, giving her the clothes. "You can get changed in one of the dressing rooms out in the back of the entrance."

Konoka hesitated,shifting slightly and said, "It's kind of dangerous out there. Can Secchan come with me?"

Three pairs of eyes snapped to Setsuna. Yuuna was smirking. Ayaka was giving her a look that was reminiscent of a disapproving mother and Makie's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets.

"Secchan huh?" Yuuna's grin was as wide as a hyena's. She wriggled her eye-brows suggestively, "You guys have already gotten to know each other huh?"

Shooting daggers at her Setsuna took Konoka's hand, walking past them with her towards the back wings. She could hear Yuuna laughing. Beside her Konoka was trying not to smile.

"Don't call me that," Setsuna told her when they got to the corridor that led to back-stage.

"You sounded like you liked it yesterday," Konoka said sweetly. "You even laughed."

She was fluttering her eyelids at her.

"Um well I…that wasn't…" Setsuna spun on her heel, looking up at the ceiling of the corridor and pointed with her hand, "Just go get changed."

Konoka giggled, walking past her just as Haruna rushed back into the Colosseum, sketch-pad in hand and a white, black-tipped quill dripping with black ink. She flipped open the sketch-book to a page that had an inked night sky coloured on it. Konoka thought it was finished but apparently not because Haruna scribbled in white spaces, making other parts darker. She flourished her hand. The picture disappeared and the sky above them thickened covering the robot's feet and the net of golden light.

"You can back out now you know," Setsuna told her, peering at her over the rim of the glass. "You don't have to do this."

"Aw are you worried about me?" Konoka grinned at her, teasing.

Setsuna choked on the water, spending the next few minutes ungracefully coughing and spluttering.

"N-No I just don't want any trouble," She said.

Konoka just continued to grin, her eyes twinkling with glee.

"Just…just be careful," Setsuna said salvaging whatever dignity she had left.

"Oh I will," Konoka said sweetly.

Setsuna's stomach felt funny again. She opened her mouth to say something then found the words died on her tongue so she just bowed awkwardly to Konoka and spun around on her heel, walking back to the seats.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" Setsuna muttered to herself under her breath.

She sat down in the nearest seat putting her hands over her face.

"Thinking too much again Setsuna?" A voice asked innocently.

Setsuna didn't need to look to know it was Al. She just nodded.

"If it's any consolation I've been doing some thinking too," Al said thoughtfully.

Setsuna flinched. She raised her head looking at him warily. If there was one thing she'd learnt about Al it was that whenever he said he had been thinking about stuff like that it was never good. He had a way of making people uneasy. He made Setsuna feel that way sometimes like now.

"Don't look at me like that," Al chided.

"The last time you said that the robots ended up going on a rampage," Setsuna said in a deadpan voice. "I have a reason to feel this way."

"Ah well, we managed to get them under control," Al said.

"After they'd destroyed half the rooms, burnt down the dorms and traumatized half the girls for half a year. Honestly did you know they had t_hat t_ype of programming in them before they started hiding in the showers?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow at him.

"It must have slipped my mind. Magic and technology aren't absolutes after all. It was probably because I transferred some unwanted knowledge into their systems while I was uploading fighting skills," Al said cheerfully stroking his chin. "Anyway, I suggest you pay close attention to your new friend."

Setsuna glanced back over at the centre where Ayaka was instructing Konoka on what to do. Thanks to her enhanced demonic hearing she could hear every word, as if the pair were right next to her.

"Wait until I've finished introducing the show then you should hear fireworks shooting from the air canon and then the sound of me cracking my whip," Ayaka was saying.

"Then you come out with me on the tight-rope!" Makie said brightly.

"Just don't come too close or you could get hurt by the air cannon," Ayaka warned.

"And watch out for the fire," Makie shuddered. "Sometimes it can get really big and you could get burnt."

Then Ayaka started to explain to her what she was going to do. Konoka nodded, listening with rapt attention. Sometimes she laughed when one of them said something she found funny. Setsuna couldn't take her eyes off Konoka. When she laughed it sounded like gentle summer rain pattering on a beach and her eyes were so warm, so alive like the sunset that spread across the morning skies in panoramas of hot oranges, yellows and reds. Those shorts and the coat didn't help either. She could see the outline of Konoka's waist even underneath the coat because it fitted Konoka to a tee. And she had full view of her legs which were curvy and slender.

"She is quite a beauty isn't she?" Al remarked.

Setsuna looked across at him sullenly. He was watching Konoka beside her with a contemplative expression on his face.  
"You're the reason I can't even go near her," Setsuna mumbled.

Al patted Setsuna on the shoulder, "And the reason why you're still alive which is why you need to be careful with her. There's no reason why you can't be friends."

Setsuna grew silent, mulling over his words. Al had saved her from death when she was about to be executed by her own tribe but the price had been too great. Sometimes Setsuna wished Al had just let her die.

"I am being careful," Setsuna said.

Al surveyed her. He could probably tell she was lying but he let it go and returned his attention back to the ring.

"I care about you Setsuna like a father. I'm only looking out in your best interests," Al said.

"That sounds like you expect her to fail," Setsuna snorted.

"No…not exactly," Al said. "I just would you to exercise some caution. She's far from the person she says she is."

"What do you think she is then?" Setsuna asked.

"Not quite sure yet," Al replied. "Jack and I have our suspicions but we think she may have some demon blood in her. I've never seen any gypsy, born or trained, be able to break a tap by sheer strength alone unless they were extremely powerful. Not even Nekane can do that without needing some magic to augment her abilities."

"Maybe she's special," Setsuna said.

Al looked at Setsuna, half-smiling and said, "Are you sure you're being careful Setsuna?"

Setsuna flushed. She looked down at her lap mumbling, "You said you've never seen a gypsy be able to do that. Perhaps she's an anomaly."

"Perhaps," Al said, sounding amused. "I don't claim to know every single gypsy in existence."

Setsuna lapsed into silence, thinking about what Al had said. Konoka put the masquerade mask on, looking around. Ayaka put the hat with the pink feather on her head and after a critical scan nodded appreciatively and passed her a small round mirror with the gold rims and smooth curved edges she took out of the box. Ayaka was explaining to her what to do with it. The mirror was enchanted by both Al and Nekane, layered with silvers of rippling rune magic that protected it from harm and made it almost impossible to break by mortal or natural means. Setsuna could feel it emanating from the mirror like a search-light. Setsuna had put protective runes on the mirror as well when she had been learning rune magic from Al and Nekane. As a result the mirror was indestructible. It'd been trampled on, thrown from the roof-top and caught in a firestorm, not to mention used as a table or prop to rest on by Haruna in her experiments, been a casualty in the twins' pranks by getting hit, smashed or dropped onto hard surfaces and it didn't even have a scratch on it. The twins were seated at the front, watching eagerly. They'd seemed to have grown a few inches. Yuuna slipped away into the wings and pressed the rune that would dim the lights.

"Don't you trust her?" Setsuna asked.

"No," Al said with a genial smile. "Don't you think you're placing too much trust in a person who you've only known for a few days?"

Setsuna tapped the arm-rest of the chair with a finger, a thought gnawing at her insides. He had a point.

"Anyway Nekane and I have some urgent business with some investors tomorrow. We'll be away from the palace and we won't be coming back until later that night," Al said.

"The ones who are interested in Haruna's creations?" Setsuna asked.

"Indeed."

Setsuna relaxed. Usually when Al and Nekane went to meet investors it meant that they were concerned about funding the palace. If it was just about Haruna's creations that was different. As the area was thrown into darkness twin giggles drifted through the air. Fumika and Fuuka. A sound of a match being struck against something hard sizzled. A flame appeared in the darkness, glowing from a paper lantern with a black dragon on it, held by the twins in one hand each and illuminating their faces. One of them was holding a pea-shooter. Setsuna shot them both a look of warning. They both looked innocently back at her. A figure appeared in the darkness near the walkway on the left. It was Konoka in her costume that glowed a warm red. She was holding a round, gold-rimmed mirror in both hands. Up above beneath the robots lights of bright green and blue flared to life, spiralling down towards the mirror. When they hit the mirror, a panorama of neon lights-reds, blues, greens, orange, yellows, all the colours of the rainbow burst back like laser lights at a rapid pace, criss-crossing, flying and skipping over one another. It was lightshow. One by one, images created by the lights flashed across the air above them beneath the ceiling in an arc. The first, a bear riding a tricycle, the second, a hawk soaring through the air which transformed into a lithe panther that when landing, morphed into a dolphin. The dolphin somer-sulted in the air, landing in a make-shift fountain that splashed water. The streams of water dispersed, converging together into a whirlwind and spiralled downwards and changed into a rotating ring of blue fire that spun on its axis slowly.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Prepare to be amazed!" Ayaka's voice rang through the air, cutting through the darkness like a spear. Setsuna could make out her outline-she was standing on a suspended platform in the middle.

That was another thing about Ayaka. Her voice could be strangely soothing even in the worst of times. Setsuna caught a shadow moving swiftly near the side-Makie. A sound of a match striking concrete scythed the air followed by the roar of flames. A flame burst to life at the left side of the ring and right side, shooting across the ground in a straight line. The flames got larger and larger until the flames reached up to five metres, illuminating the walls, audience and Ayaka in an orange-yellow glow for just a second until the flames crashed into one another exploding in a mushroom cloud of fire. Setsuna shielded her eyes, looking away as she felt the heat from the blast engulf her in an inferno. Bright light suddenly flooded the area. The heat faded. It revealed Ayaka standing on top of an old antique carriage made of oak and cedar with a rattle-snake whip in her hand. The carriage was tilted at the side, half of it stuck into the ground. At any other time the carriage was buried six feet under. It was only when they opened the show that Ayaka, using her earth mage powers, used it by raising it from underground.

"I invite you all to the extraordinary spectacle! To witness things you've never seen before, heard before! Into a place of mystery, wonder and thrills! I welcome you all to the White Palace!" Ayaka's whip snapped through the air with an ear-splitting crack, sending chills down Setsuna's spine.

She would never get used to that. The fire-works exploded from nearby set off by Yuuna, smoke billowing and dispersing just as quickly. Darkness hit the area, drowning it in black for a moment before the spark of a match being struck against concrete was heard along with the crack of a whip-Ayaka. That meant that Konoka should come out with Makie in a couple of seconds. Neon lights washed over the area, blue spotlights trained in the centre where Ayaka was standing and the stretching across the rim into the audience seats. Makie was there but where was Konoka? Setsuna started to stand, looking for Konoka who had disappeared, swallowed by the darkness. Makie started to walk towards the platform, the spotlight following her and shifting to warm orange.

"She's on the tight-rope," Al said beside her.

Another spotlight appeared lighting up the tight-rope platform. Her hat was discarded revealing her long hair, tumbling down her back. She started to walk across the rope with ease, her feet moving like a dancer's in smooth, graceful steps towards Makie who was smiling and waving but she kept on glancing at Konoka. Setsuna hadn't realized she'd gotten to her feet until Al pulled her back down gently.

"Ayaka why's she up there?!" Setsuna shouted. "That wasn't part of the agreement!"

"She insisted!" Ayaka called back.

"Yes but…" Setsuna was interrupted by Konoka who called down, "I'm ok!"

Setsuna gaped up at her. Konoka was doing _pirouettes _on the rope, delicate laughter coming from her. Konoka was moving like air in graceful twirls, her arms over her head. Her feet were like quicksilver, barely touching the rope before moving forwards in elegant hops, spinning, weaving on the rope a carefree dance. Her dress twirled with her, her hair fanning out in chocolate streams.

"Well now," Al murmured. "That's interesting."

The way Konoka was moving was inhuman, unnatural even by gypsy standards. She moved like water, fluid with no wasted steps or movements no matter how tiny. And Setsuna couldn't keep her eyes off her.

Neither could anyone else apparently because Setsuna realized that Ayaka wasn't firing any fire-works. Which meant that the four fire-works that were supposed to spiral through the air and criss-cross to spell out the greeting words for the show were clogged up in the cannon.

"Ayaka, the fire-!" Setsuna didn't get to finish as the fire-works exploded from the cannon, plumes of red and green smoke drifting into the air.

Konoka, in mid-leap, landed awkwardly on the rope and slipped. Her hand shot out grabbing the rope but Setsuna was already halfway into the air.

Konoka called out to Setsuna swinging her legs upwards to wrap around the rope, "Secchan I'm ok!"

Boom! A stray firework zipped towards Setsuna. She veered to the right.

"Setsuna get down you're going to get hit!" Ayaka yelled from down below. "I can't control this!"

Setsuna hesitated, hovering. Konoka was getting back up. The cannon exploded, rupturing from the inside and metal pieces flew everywhere. Suddenly screams filled the air. The twins rushed from the left wings almost tripping over one another. Something burst through the glass, shrieking. It was a tawny-feathered griffon.

"Holy-" Haruna stared.

"T-T-That shouldn't exist!" Ayaka spluttered.

The twins rushed to Al, cowering behind him. The griffon faltered. Al looked at it pleasantly. Setsuna took one moment to register that Al could tame griffons. A scream filled the air.

"Konoka!" Makie cried out.

Setsuna snapped towards it. One of the metal pieces had shredded the tight-rope. Konoka plummeted towards the ground. Setsuna swooped up catching Konoka. Slowing down and coming to a halt Setsuna gazed down at her. She had her eyes shut, huddled close to Setsuna. Setsuna hovered in the air for a moment before gliding down towards the carriage.

"You can open your eyes now," Setsuna told her, landing on top of the carriage.

Slowly Konoka did. Relief washed over her face. Setsuna set her down gently.

"Thanks Se-"

"Setsuna the griffon!"

Setsuna spun around. The griffon tackled her with the force of a battering ram at full speed, knocking the breath out of her. Setsuna flew backwards and hit the wall of the ring. The griffon squawked, pouncing and opened its beak. She gathered fire in her hand, ready to shoot.

"No wait don't!" Konoka shouted.

"Are you crazy that thing's going to…bite…why is it doing that?" Yuuna's voice pettered off.

Setsuna had to ask the same question. Instead of tearing her face off the griffon was nuzzling her with its beak like a dog.

"Wow…" Haruna said in awe.

Bewildered Setsuna slowly got up, squashing the fire in her hand and awkwardly bowed to the creature. It was the first rule of befriending griffons, to always make eye contact and bow to show that you mean no harm. The griffon accepted her peace offering. It inclined its head, ruffling its feathers and made a cawing noise then sauntered back towards Konoka who hugged its neck, stroking its feathers and whispering in its ear.

"That is so cool!" The twins whooped. They rushed to a visibly shell-shocked Ayaka, "Can we have a pet griffon?!"

Gathering her composure Ayaka patiently explained that griffons are naturally wild and keeping one would be the equivalent of taking care of a rabid bear. The twins' enthusiasm visibly dropped faster than a sack of potatoes.

"I told you she was special," Setsuna said to Al.

All gypsies had the power to communicate with animals including the ones that were taught the magic. It was one of the basic skills along with rune-writing, sensing other people's life-force from their heart-beats, knowing how to do spells, creating magic energy and conjuring and controlling that fire. Those animals didn't include griffons because they were wild by nature, untamed. No one had ever tamed a griffon before.

"How…how can you do that?" Ayaka finally said. "Griffons are untamable."

"Not this one. He's my friend," Konoka said brightly.

"Your friend…?" Setsuna stared at her.

"Yep! He's totally harmless!"

The griffon flicked its tail which resembled a lion's and clucked its beak together, nudging Konoka affectionately.

"This is Icarus," Konoka said. "Ike, say hi to everyone."

The griffon swivelled its feathered head, its fierce golden eyes flicking from one to the other and ever so slowly, bent its front leg and bowed its head. There was a short silence before the braver girls swarmed it en masse.

"Now however did she manage to tame a wild griffon?" Al said. He was watching with one open eye underneath the cowl of the hood, intrigue and curiosity lining his features. "Do you still think she's a mere gypsy?"

Setsuna had no answer. As the girls fawned and touched the griffon her eyes caught Konoka's. For some reason Setsuna felt caught, trapped by them. She couldn't break her gaze away. Konoka's eyes shone warmly and she just smiled at her.

"No Al," Setsuna said.

* * *

A.N: Argh. This chapter was...difficult. I had some problems here but it all worked out in the end. Stay tuned for more surprises guys. We haven't even begun yet ;] Blue out-

KeeperAki: More than you realize ;]


	7. Chapter 7

A.N: I should really get an editor god. Argh. I made a mistake in the previous chapter. The part where it says Setsuna choked on water and she's looking at Konoka over the rim of the glass. That was unedited mistake of mine while I was writing it

"You can back out now you know," Setsuna told her, peering at her over the rim of the glass. "You don't have to do this."

"Aw are you worried about me?" Konoka grinned at her, teasing.

Setsuna choked on the water, spending the next few minutes ungracefully coughing and spluttering.

"N-No I just don't want any trouble," She said.

Konoka just continued to grin, her eyes twinkling with glee.

"Just…just be careful," Setsuna said salvaging whatever dignity she had left.

"Oh I will," Konoka said sweetly.

**Edited version:**

Watching her go Setsuna took one look at the cannon that was standing by Ayaka's side, then at Ayaka who was frowning at the cannon to Konoka then ran after Konoka.

"You can back out now you know. We can find something else for you to do," Setsuna told her, "You don't have to do this."

"Aw are you worried about me?" Konoka grinned at her, teasing. "It's just holding an itsy bitsy mirror."

"You might get hit by a firework," Setsuna said. "Why did you want me to come anyway? You seemed confident before."

"I just…Ayaka made me nervous with the way she was looking at me," Konoka said.

Setsuna looked at Ayaka then back at Konoka, puzzled, "But there's nothing to be scared of with Ayaka. She's harmless."

Ayaka was still glaring at them.

"Um I'll be ok I guess," Konoka said, blinking.

Setsuna hesitated but Konoka nudged her gently with her hand. Setsuna stumbled back out into the main area. For an ordinary gypsy girl she was strong. Konoka flashed her a sweet smile. Setsuna's stomach felt funny again….

Forgive me, this fic's kind of been…difficult with scenes and plot-lines. Fun but difficult =_=.

* * *

Konoka had the book with her the next morning at breakfast when they were in one of the parlour rooms on the third floor where everyone was eating. "Everyone" consisted of Haruna, Yue, Nodoka, Ayaka, Makie, Yuuna and the twins along with Setsuna and herself. Jack was nowhere to be seen as usual. Al and Nekane still hadn't come back from the meeting yet. Setsuna never ate breakfast. She didn't need food to survive. It was really weird but that was always how it'd been ever since she was a baby. She'd put it down to the moon spirits blessing her. Setsuna smiled bitterly to herself. If only they'd blessed her with an indestructible heart. Setsuna was sitting next to Konoka who was sitting next to Nodoka who as usual, had a book in front of her. She'd read it before. It was something about a knight who had given his soul, his heart and body for a dying princess he loved but later on was saved by the princess with a simple kiss. Setsuna snorted. She had stopped believing in fairy-tales a long time ago. Konoka had a stack of pancakes in front of her, courtesy of Haruna who had plopped down in the seat opposite her with her sketch-pad in hand and a round, white-feathered quill in the other. Setsuna could already see half-finished drawings of clothes for the show filling it up. They were all just one line or two away from being finished. Finished and commanded to be brought to life by Haruna.

"Haruna," Setsuna said apprehensively, sipping on a glass of water. "We don't need any more costumes."

"Doesn't hurt to change," Haruna said brightly.

"I think they look pretty," Konoka chimed in. She had a book open in front of her too, the one Setsuna had given her. Looking at Setsuna with a devilish grin she said, "I wouldn't mind closing the show in a sea shell with a bikini."

Setsuna choked, spitting water everywhere and wheezed, "Ko-Konoka!"

Konoka just looked at her innocently, "What do you think?"

Setsuna didn't answer, in the middle of a coughing fit.

"Konoka!" The twins rushed up to her, their mouths filled with food. "That was so cool what you did yesterday!"

"Thanks," Konoka seemed pleased.

"I mean you were like this," Fuuka demonstrated with a spin.

"Yeah! Then you were like this!" Fumika leapt across the air in a perfect arabesque, feet out and posture perfect.

Maybe a little too perfect. She landed on Setsuna's feet making her yelp in pain.

"Fumika!"

"Oops, sorry," Fumika said, looking at her apologetically.

Her sister was still doing spins. As she started to get more and more excited she got faster and faster, a blur.

"Easy," Setsuna took Fuuka's shoulder, steadying her.

Fuuka laughed, an innocent child-like laughter that sounded light as the wind. She stumbled, dizzy, "So cool!"

"Come on let's go find Ike!" Fumika tugged her sister, impish delight in her eyes.

After a unanimous vote everyone had agreed that the griffon be allowed to roam free wherever he pleased as long as he didn't cause any damage or anything. Konoka promised she'd keep an eye on him.

"Kay, bye Konoka!" Fuuka said waving at Konoka and allowing herself to be dragged away by her sister.

Setsuna watched them go, amused and surprised at the same time. She had no idea that Fuuka could move that fast. Fumika everyone knew had always been good with dancing and acrobatics but in that moment she'd seemed like she'd been suspended in air, frozen in a frame that spread for eternity. Before she'd stepped on Setsuna's foot that is.

"Those two are very peculiar…" Yue was watching them go too, contemplating.

Konoka had a strange expression on her face. When she caught Setsuna's eye she looked away her eyes falling on the picture Haruna was erasing with the quill. It was a water-colour picture of a witch with a sword.

"What are you doing Haruna?" Konoka asked curiously.

"I have to use special quills to erase pictures I've already drawn," Haruna said.

"But earlier this week when that faery attacked you," Konoka started. "Setsuna killed it by stabbing it with your sword."

"They're paper creations," Setsuna said. "So they're able to be killed using an ordinary weapon. The easiest way is to burn them."

"Why didn't you do that?"

"I didn't think about it," Setsuna said.

"What faery?" Haruna said, looking from one to the other.

"One of your faeries," Setsuna looked at her, "The one that likes to attack people while they're showering or in the bathroom."

"Oooooooh you mean Lord Rexington," Haruna said.

"Lord?" Konoka echoed, giving her a weird look.

The others around the table gave no reaction.

"It makes it easier for me to remember who each faery is," Haruna said. She clicked her fingers and a sketch-pad appeared in front of her. She opened it, revealing a drawn picture of the one that had attacked Konoka. She declared, "This is Lord Rexington."

"You mean Lord Pervington," Yue said with a completely straight face.

Setsuna twitched, jerking. Konoka just giggled. It was like she was used to being the target of pervertedness.

"No," Haruna frowned and turned over a page. Beaming she jabbed at the page enthusiastically, glasses gleaming, "THIS is Lord Pervington!"

Beside her Konoka frowned, "Why does Lord Pervington look like baby Cupid?"

"Artistic style," Haruna winked at her.

The idea of a golden-haired chubby baby in diapers with a sling of arrows and a cross-bow as Lord Pervington was unnerving to say the least. Setsuna still remembered when Haruna had brought it to life. It'd gone around shooting everyone in the butt with pink heart-tipped arrows, ones that'd worked and made everyone fall in love with one another. Luckily the arrows hadn't hit Setsuna or Al. They'd gotten everyone under control.

"Show her the Masquerade," Setsuna said.

Haruna flipped the pages to where she'd drawn a band of what looked to be gypsies with elfish ears and loose-fitting bluish clothes with bandanas and head-bands. Most of them were wearing jewellery while others were carrying swords or scimitars. They had no footwear. Konoka glanced at Setsuna who also had no footwear and was wearing loose-fitting clothes. It was exactly the same. With the silk vest, linen shirt with rumpled, cuffed sleeves and beige trousers.

"I still wear what I wore when I spent time with the gypsies sometimes," Setsuna explained.

"Hmmm," Was all Konoka said and returned her attention to the sketch-book.

"These guys are the Masquerade," Haruna said with a dramatic flourish.

"What do they do?" Konoka asked.

"Gymnastics," Haruna snickered. "With Makie. They're really flexible."

Setsuna glanced at Konoka out of the corner of her eye. Konoka didn't react.

"Why do you always have to turn the most innocent of things into something perverted?" Yue asked, glancing up from her book to look disapprovingly at her friend.

"It only sounds perverted to people who already have their minds in the gutter," Haruna smirked.

Yue raised an eyebrow at her then murmured, "I'm surprised I haven't lost my mind hanging around you."

Haruna leaned across the table to ruffle Yue's hair, grinning, "There's always time."

Yue ignored her. Haruna just laughed, settling back in her seat and procured her quill, flipping the pages back to the witch.

"But really, your acrobatics was something," Haruna said conversationally to Konoka, eyes twinkling. "It was almost inhuman."

Konoka, who'd been flipping the page of the book, fumbled with it. Haruna stopped erasing, looking at Konoka questioningly.

"Paper-cut," Konoka mumbled, sucking her thumb.

"You should be more careful," Setsuna told her.

Konoka stuck her tongue out at Setsuna, "I'm tough enough."

Setsuna felt a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

Boom. Something shook the ceiling making plaster rain down from the ceiling.

"The twins," Setsuna said as childish laughter ricocheted through the air, rebounding off the walls.

"I'd better go stop them," Yue sighed, standing and slamming her book shut.

"I don't get it what's happening?" Konoka asked.

"They got into her alchemy potions," Setsuna said.

She slid off her chair, "I'll go with Yue for backup."

"Why would you need backup?"

"You don't know them like we do," Setsuna said wryly.

Another explosion rocked the air making the tables rattle. Ayaka, who had been eating some cereal nearby from a bowl, cried out in outrage as the bowl jumped making the milk splash onto her face. Beside her Yuuna, who was drinking some cola, laughed. Yue was already heading towards the parlour doors. Setsuna followed her.

"Wait for me!" Konoka called, running after her.

Setsuna jumped, startled as Konoka latched herself onto her arm. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jack, who was leaning against the counter bar with Al, watching them with a wolfish grin like he knew something she didn't. Jack raised a pitcher made out of mist to Setsuna, laughing to himself and drank from it. Setsuna caught a glimpse of his expression. He looked like he was enjoying the best joke of all time. As they went into the hallway, down towards the stairs at the end she was still thinking about that when there was a noise of what sounded like a bunch of glass shattering against the floor. Yue broke into a run straight past the elevators. It was a good thing they were on the second last floor. It was only one flight of stairs up to Yue's room.

"I thought they were going to go find Ike," Setsuna muttered as she hurried after Yue.

Konoka had let go of Setsuna. Yue had already disappeared up the stairs but Setsuna gripped the railing, lunging over and spread out of her wings, catching the wind and landed on the top of the stairs. To her surprise Konoka was just as fast. When Setsuna turned to look for her she yelped as the girl popped up out of nowhere like she'd teleported, stumbling backwards.

"H-How did you get up here so-?"

"I'm fast," Konoka grinned at her. She nudged Setsuna, pushing her gently, "Come on."

They ran down the hallway towards an open door that was marked "Alchemy Lab". Icarus flew out, shaking his head and making a weird strangled squawking noise. He sneezed and blue smoke spurted from his beak.

"Ike!" Konoka cried, running over to him. She hugged him around the neck, stroking his neck, "What happened?"

The griffon cawed and Setsuna heard it as _Twins-evil...in there! _

He sounded like he was gagging. Setsuna looked at the open doorway, considering. A white humanoid light shot out, hitting the wall. Setsuna blinked. That looked like Fuuka. Then it shot off the wall, shooting into the room.

"Fuuka no!" That was Yue.

Taking a deep breath Setsuna ran into the room. She skidded on something wet and soft, hitting her hips on the edge of the table. Whimpering Setsuna held table. This was not her day. Fuuka was ricocheting off the walls as a human pocket-rocket made of white light, five vials in her hands full of pink liquid. Yue was at the cupboard where she kept all her vials with her potions. The door was open and three vials had already fallen out. Fumika was bouncing off the walls, her form opaque white. Fuuka zipped past Setsuna, screeching to a halt as Konoka stepped into the room. Fuuka swerved to the right, careening upwards with a maniacal laugh.

"Yue what's going on?" Setsuna had to raise her voice to be heard over the laughter and noise of the twins hitting things and making them rattle.

"They drank some of the emotions," Yue said, frowning. She was gathering up dozens of broken vials in her hands, "Icarus was inside as well."

"Those are emotions?" Konoka gaped at her.

Yue nodded.

"How did Icarus even get in here?" Setsuna asked, glancing at the windows. They were way too small to fit the griffon.

"Haruna left the back door open," Konoka said.

"Fumika catch!" Fuuka giggled, throwing a vial full of pink stuff in it.

Fumika missed, fingers scraping it. It dropped the floor, breaking and pink smoke drifted out near Setsuna's feet. Fuuka threw another one. Setsuna ducked as it flew towards her with the label love written on it in neat, black hand-writing. Yue's hand snapped up, snatching it out of mid-air. The twins were streaks of white light, their laughter echoing around the room like a song. They bounced off the walls, whooping. One of them knocked into the cabinet shelves, sending it toppling over with a crash. Vials broke and emotions poured out like champagne out of a wine bottle. There was red smoke, blue and green, yellow, pink even black. Half a dozen emotions shot out in a corkscrew smog filling the air with hundreds of vapour images that appeared for seconds then dissolved and reformed. In pink there were images of couples kissing underneath mistletoe, figures twisting around each other and melting into one, bow-shaped lips that mouthed the words "I love you". In red images of blood spatters, bloodied fists, demons trading blows with one another violently. For blue and green images of beaches with gentle waters, with water lapping at feet, tears and an expense of lush forests, tropical jungles and green exotic plants. The smoke dispersed into green, blue, pink, red, yellow and black orbs that floated into the air. Setsuna was staring at the pink lips that were swimming around her in swirls. She slowly reached out, fingers brushing it and shivered as tingles shot through her hand.

"Don't touch anything," Yue said sharply, slapping Setsuna's hand away.

Setsuna's eyes lingered on it. She could see Konoka's face in there. It was beckoning her. Mesmorized, Setsuna moved closer. Then it exploded into pink orbs like the rest.

"That was...odd," Yue said, looking at Konoka in mild amusement. "Konoka's face shouldn't have been in there."

"Wahoo hoooooo!" Fuuka zipped down, bowling into Setsuna and knocking her off her feet.

Groaning Setsuna sat up with Fuuka bouncing up and down on her, face rapt and eyes large. White magic was dripping off her.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod thatwassoawesomecanwedothata gain?" Fuuka squealed.

"Fuuka...please...stop...moving," Setsuna pleaded, wincing.

Fumika soared past. Konoka grabbed the girl by the back of her collar pulling her in and said affectionately, "Gotcha!"

"What were you saying about Konoka's face?" Setsuna asked Yue, hitting the side of her head with the palm of her hand. Her ears were ringing.

"It shouldn't have been in there," Yue repeated.

"There's a lot of magic in the air," Konoka shrugged. "It's probably a side effect."

"Perhaps," Yue said.

Fumika scrambled off Setsuna, giggling. Setsuna stumbled to her feet. The air was still thick with emotions. Setsuna could feel them. Which was the weirdest thing she'd ever felt in her life. It was messing with her thoughts. She suddenly felt giddy, then sad then blind rage. Konoka took her hand. Setsuna looked up at her. Konoka was looking at her in concern, unaffected. She brushed Setsuna's eyes.

"What's wrong with her Yue?"

Setsuna's eyes were starting to water. It was like someone had turned her world into a kaleidoscope with attention to detail. Everything was hyper-focused. Every sense was magnified by tenfold. She could see the individual strands of hair, chocolate brown, smell the fruit essence of the shampoo she'd used in her hair she used, smell scented oil coming from her and something rich and perfume. She could hear each beat of her heart in steady rhythm. She could _feel _her aura, nurturing and warm and so unnaturally loving and pure. It was so bright it filled the entire room. When her fingers touched Konoka's skin it sent electricity coursing through her, making her shudder in delight.

"I...don't know. This is new," Yue said after a long pause.

Then the orbs broke down into silvers of light and winked out altogether. Setsuna felt like she'd woken up from a dream. Konoka was looking at her strangely. Setsuna just sighed in content languishing in the magic. It'd felt good, those emotions.

"Setsuna? What just happened?" Yue asked.

"I..." Setsuna said still in a daze. "I don't know. I could see everything. Hear Konoka's heart beat like it was my own... "

"You had a reaction to the magic," Yue concluded. "It sounds like you reacted to love the most...which is curious in itself."

"Love is the strongest emotion anyone can have," Konoka said softly. She still hadn't let go of Setsuna's hand.

"If you love me can you put me down?" A small voice asked.

Konoka looked down at the twin she was still holding in her free hand, alarmed then laughed, "Sorry Fumika-chan."

She let her go. Fumika dropped to the ground, energy gone. She looked disappointed. Fuuka was swaying on the spot, laughing like a maniac.

"Why is it curious?" Konoka asked Yue.

"Well I extracted the emotion from Nekane. Since it came from her it should only have impacted her and possibly Al because both of them are filled with magic. They're vessels for magic so even the tiniest drop has great effects on them but Setsuna isn't. She is a bird demon and not even a born gypsy," Yue said slowly. "The amount I managed to extract from Nekane wasn't even enough to fill an inch of a bottle-cap let alone have that kind of effect on Setsuna. She doesn't have any innate magic so it's strange...and your face shouldn't have appeared."

"It's probably because there's a lot of magic. And maybe it's because of me. I'm a born gypsy after all," Konoka suggested.

"Hmmm," Yue just said. She knelt down, picking up the vials scattered on the floor that weren't broken, "If the four of you will please leave I have to clean this up. I'll do some experiments on this to see if I can figure out the cause of what just happened."

"Of course Yue," Konoka said smoothly. Taking Setsuna's hand she tugged her towards the open door and called to the twins, "Come on you two!"

Setsuna looked at Konoka, dazed. Konoka just smiled at her, her eyes like rich pools of dark chocolate.

And Setsuna could still see the remnants of white magic cloaking Konoka in a fine layer. Like the cape of a Queen.

* * *

NegimaFan: I'm glad :D

KeeperAki: All in due time ;]. There's a very good reason for Konoka's mysteriousness hehe.


	8. Chapter 8

Setsuna sneezed shooting white, opaque glowing miniature bubbles out of her mouth that floated into the air. Rubbing her eyes, which were watering, Setsuna glowered at the bubbles. She hadn't stopped sneezing ever since this morning which hadn't escaped the notice of everyone else. Yue had been in the library ever since this morning world-diving to see if she could find any antidote and Nodoka had been rummaging through tomes of books. Yue had told Nodoka exactly what had happened while everyone else had just assumed Konoka had done something to Setsuna that caused her to become a demon bubble blower. Ayaka had made herbal tonic from some roots she'd conjured up using her earth elemental abilities that Setsuna's stomach had regurgitated on the spot and ended up ruining Ayaka's dress. She hadn't tried helping after that. Haruna had been no help, snickering when Setsuna had coughed up enough bubbles to fill a pool just an hour before the show started. The twins had tricked Setsuna into drinking some weird substance they'd made from orange juice, rum and vodka that they'd stolen from the bar in one of the parlour rooms under the pretence that it was a special potion that Yue had made for her. Now as Setsuna stood in the wings of the Colosseum, watching the circus show from the shadows, she could still feel the concoction wreaking havoc on her stomach making her feel queasy and nauseous. Leaning back against the wall she closed her eyes, listening to the audience gasp and cheer as Konoka continued to dance across the tight-rope. Just like in rehearsal she was graceful, elegant and inhumanly so, seeming to fly across the rope with the lightest, barest of touches. Setsuna opened her eyes, side glancing to the main area as the crowd clapped. Her enhanced hearing picked out whispers.

"She's so beautiful!"

"Yeah, it's like she's not even human!"

"I bet she's a demon! Like one of those really hot demons that comes to you in your dreams!"

"You think a demon could be that beautiful?! She's an angel!"

"Maybe she's an elf!"

"Elves don't exist you idiot! I bet she's a vampire they're hot!"

"I don't care! I wanna marry her!"

"Even though she's a girl I want to kiss her! I bet she's a good kisser!"

Setsuna's eyes snapped open. That last one had come from a girl. And she'd sounded way too excited. Setsuna pushed herself off the wall, edging closer to the end of the corridor. Konoka had reached the other platform and Makie was walking across. Underneath the make-believe sky and in her hat and dress she looked radiant. Or maybe it was her smile. She was blowing kisses to the crowd happily, waving down at them. Setsuna spun around, pressing her heart as she felt it jump into her throat. What was this? It made her feel nervous. It kind of hurt too. As she wondered why her head felt light of a sudden and her stomach felt like it was doing flip-flops she realized that the audience was whistling and roaring. She could even hear some of the girls shrieking. Setsuna straightened, sticking her finger in her ear. She must be hearing things. That wasn't normal. People never made that much noise at the opening.

"You might want to take a look out there," A deep chuckle rang through the air.

Setsuna's eyes snapped open. Jack was standing opposite her, arms crossed with his back against the wall in a pool of blue and red lights from the ceiling operated by Yuuna in the wings opposite this one in the hallway. Setsuna glanced upwards again. She felt hot. And the noise outside was getting louder, way too loud making Setsuna's ears hurt. And despite all that Konoka was breath-taking, a figure of perfection standing in a spotlight of ethereal wonder and untouched beauty, showering the audience with chocolate kisses. Setsuna paused, taking a moment to wonder whether whatever had happened to her in that room with Yue had made her delusional. Had she snapped? She was just a girl! A girl who she barely knew. A girl who had lied when she had first met her and had a tamed griffon for a friend!

"I'd die for you!"

Setsuna twisted her finger in her ear vigorously. That came from a guy and a girl.

"She's got some charm doesn't she?" Jack mused, his eyes seeming to gleam.

"She's beautiful," Setsuna said abruptly. Then paused, frowning, "What did I just say?"

Jack grinned at her wolfishly, white teeth flashing. He chuckled, "Hang out with her sometime kid, just the two of ya. See what happens."

Setsuna looked at him, "Are you telling me-?"

"Don't worry," Jack stretched, rolling his shoulder. "You just got a little lust for the girl. It ain't love."

Setsuna opened her mouth then closed it, speechless. She knew what that was. She'd seen it so many times at the palace. When couples came to the casino, drank together and got cosy in the parlour rooms or at the bars. Boom. Ayaka had unleashed the fire-works. That meant that they were going to get into the main act with the faerie masquerade and Makie. The crowd had quieted down. Konoka would be coming back into the wings, having run through the cover of the darkness as fast as quicksilver.

"Here's your chance," Jack grinned.

His form rippled and he disappeared. Setsuna pushed herself off the wall, stumbling as the ground swayed. She sneezed, white glowing bubbles popping out. Putting a hand on the wall to steady herself she closed her eyes, taking in slow breaths before heading down the corridor towards the exit. The sound of the audience faded away the further she got. Setsuna felt her heart slowing down, becoming normal again which was a relief. But she was getting tired. Fear skittered down Setsuna's spine. Just from walking, she was getting tired just from _walking_. She hoped this wasn't serious. Setsuna made it outside, almost falling as she pushed open the door and stumbled outside into the cold air, pressing her back against the wall of the entrance-way into the Colosseum. Raising her gaze upwards she saw Icarus fly past the moon, silhouetted against it for a few seconds. He wheeled around the battlements of the palace then angling his wings, glided down to the ledge that unfurled the purple banner with the crest of the white wing on it. He had a dead rabbit in his talons and holding it down with one clawed foot, tore into it with a razor sharp beak. Setsuna covered her mouth as the sound of ripping flesh sounded through the air. She could hear everything as if the griffon was standing right beside her. As a wave of nausea washed over her she glared at the double doors that led into the palace itself. If she died because of them she'd find a way to come back and hang them on a tree and leave them there with nothing but Al singing to them for weeks straight in his horrible singing voice. While Setsuna watched them with delight and refused to set them free. Oh yes, she could be evil.

"Oh god," Setsuna groaned as she felt her stomach heave.

She knelt down and quickly drew three identical symbols in the air in the ground that resembled inverted fishhooks, glowing blue and wrote the name "Nodoka" in Latin. It was the symbol for teleportation. She was glad she had learnt this. Only skilled gypsies could do this because of the distance and power it took. She heard the door swing open, laughter drifting through the air, someone that sounded like Haruna laughing about Konoka boosting sales and a surprised "Secchan" before a hollow column of blue light shot up around her obscuring everything from sight. She disappeared, a flash of light blinding her. When it disappeared she was kneeling in the hallway outside Nodoka's room. Setsuna rose and knocked on the door. After a few minutes it opened revealing Nodoka in cotton blue pajamas, her hair tied back.

"Setsuna?" Nodoka said, alarmed. "What are you doing here? I thought you were watching the show?"

Setsuna opened her mouth but hiccupped then sneezed.

"Oh dear," Nodoka said, her face falling as a jet of white bubbles erupted from Setsuna. "It's gotten worse."

"Have you found anything to cure this?" Setsuna said thickly.

"Um…" Nodoka hesitated.

Setsuna realized Nodoka's face was swimming in and out of focus. Nodoka looked extremely worried.

"Just come inside," Nodoka finally said.

Nodoka tugged her inside with surprising firmness. Setsuna tripped over her own feet, almost falling. She put a hand on Setsuna's forehead and quickly took it away, yelping.

"What's wrong?" Setsuna asked.

"You're burning up," Nodoka said, biting her lip. "Come on, you can lie down on the couch. You shouldn't move around like this."

She steered Setsuna towards the couch beside the banister of the stair-case and pushed her down gently. Setsuna hiccupped, ejecting white glowing bubbles from her mouth.

"I'll go get Yue. She was concentrating really hard on something before so I think she was onto something with your bubbles problem," Nodoka said.

With a backward glance to Setsuna Nodoka hurried up the stair-case, disappearing in between two rows of book-shelves. Setsuna sat there, looking blankly at the floor feeling miserable. Miserable and confused about Konoka.

"Setsuna!" Nodoka stuck her head out from behind the bookshelf, apologetic, "I'm having a little bit of trouble finding her! Are you able to take a hot bath by yourself? I think it's better for you right now."

Setsuna pushed herself off the couch. The world wasn't tilting for now. Setsuna nodded.

"Great I'll come get you when I've found Yue. You can use our bathroom!" Nodoka sounded relieved. "The twins did something weird to the pipes with the shower earlier so the water's not coming out. Just use the bath-tub!"

Setsuna stumbled to Nodoka's room then inside to the bath-room, pulled open the door and wrenched it shut. A minute later she was half submerged inside a bath-tub full of hot water, her clothes lying on the floor near the door. Setsuna sighed, sinking into the water so only her eyes were visible. She blew bubbles. Least her heart was ok now. After a while Setsuna heard the door open, excited footsteps and voices. She picked out Nodoka and Yue and the faint voice of someone she couldn't hear.

"Setsuna! Are you done in there?" Nodoka called. "I found Yue. She wants to talk to you."

"Yes can you get me a towel please Nodoka?!" Setsuna called.

"Oh yes sorry Yue and I left them out on the balcony to dry!"

"I can get it!" A cheerful voice chirped.

Setsuna angled her head, glancing at the closed door. That had sounded suspiciously like Konoka. There were panicked shouts, the sound of sliding glass doors opening and Nodoka crying out something. Setsuna stood up, concerned.

Then the door swung open. Setsuna let out a horrified cry and dropped back down into the bath with only the top of her head sticking out. She peered over the bath-tube rim at Konoka embarrassed but the damage had been done. Konoka was staring at her, open-mouthed her face growing red. Setsuna was sure hers was even worse. Silence fell between the two. Setsuna just gazed at her, wishing the ground would swallow her while she just gazed back at Setsuna with a towel in her hand. The silence stretched on. Then Konoka started to grin.

"You have a very nice body Secchan," She said innocently.

Setsuna just blushed even more.

"I'll leave this here," Konoka said, putting the towel on the railing neatly.

With a lingering backwards look at her, Konoka left the bath-room closing the door behind her. Setsuna waited before standing up, reaching over and grabbing the towel hastily wrapping it around her body. When she finished dressing and went out, Nodoka was standing near the landing of the stair-case talking with Yue. Konoka was sitting on the ottoman behind the table absorbed in an emerald bound book entitled "Fenris and Loki-Tale of the Two Tricksters". She looked fascinated. Yue looked past Nodoka as Setsuna neared them. Nodoka glanced over her shoulder, smiling at Setsuna in relief.

"You look better," Nodoka said.

Setsuna smiled at her slightly then glanced at Konoka who still had the book in front of her face. As Konoka flipped a page Setsuna felt her face burn with humiliation. Konoka had seen her naked.

"How do you know all this stuff Nodoka? You've got so much detail in…" Konoka trailed off as she noticed Setsuna. A slow, impish smile spread across her face, "Hey Secchan. Are you feeling ok now?"

Setsuna lowered her head, nodding slightly and mumbled something incoherently under her breath, rubbing the back of her head and shifted.

Nodoka looked at Setsuna strangely then said to Konoka, "I travelled a lot as a story bard before I ended up here. I heard a lot of tales from gypsy clans and people in the circus."

"Oh," Konoka said brightly. "Well you must've visited a lot of places then."

"Yes…" Nodoka said shyly.

Setsuna looked at Nodoka, wondering why she wasn't moving an inch from the stair-case. Her heart was beating a bit fast. She was nervous for some reason speaking with Konoka. Nodoka wasn't exactly a social butterfly but she was friendly enough and Konoka wasn't a stranger. She wasn't intimidating.

"Have you finished with the other book then?" Setsuna asked Konoka, partly to help take the attention off Nodoka and partly out of curiosity.

"No," Konoka said. "I came in here because I was worried about you. And people wouldn't stop coming up to me after the show. I needed to get away."

Setsuna flushed red as she remembered what had happened at the show. Konoka set the book down.

"Yue said she figured out why you reacted the way you did when I touched you," Konoka said.

Her eyes flicked downwards. That was odd. It was like she was nervous but what did she have to be nervous about? Konoka looked at the window, her expression fading somewhat as rain started to drizzle down the window-panes.

"You should take a seat," Yue gestured towards the couch.

Setsuna crossed over to the ottoman and sat down beside Konoka, feeling apprehensive. Konoka's fingers somehow found her way over to Setsuna's, sliding them through hers. Strangely Setsuna found it reassuring.

"What did you find out?" Setsuna said, looking at Yue tensely.

"When your fingers touched it, you were affected by the magic," Yue started, "Which started a chain reaction due to all the emotions floating around. If you hadn't had touched it nothing would've happened to you but you did."

"Then what about everything I saw with Konoka? When she touched me?" Setsuna said.

"Well I don't know why it was love you reacted to the most," Yue murmured. "But when Konoka took your hand, you were already reacting strongly to the magic from the emotions. Konoka, being filled with magic, ignited some sort of spark inside you that made your senses hyper-attuned to every detail. You could say it acted like a drug."

"But I'm not…demons don't have innate magic. That's more for the ones that do magic like Konoka and Ayaka," Setsuna frowned.

"That's the problem. It shouldn't have happened because as demon you're not supposed to a being of magic," Yue said. The skin in between her eyebrows creased a thoughtful look crossed her face, "Since Fumika and Fuuka drank some of the emotions and it was magic it just made them even more hyper-active than they already are without drinking but with you…."

Yue looked up at Setsuna, hesitating. Jack hunched over, peering at Setsuna over his clasped hands, his eyes dark.

"Maybe you're not who you think you are," Yue said.

"What does that mean?" Setsuna swallowed.

"I think it means that you weren't born a demon," Nodoka said.

Yue nodded. Setsuna felt her world tip. She sat up, hand on the side of her head and swallowed, "That can't be. I'm a demon I know I am. I was raised by the Uzoku clan in the mountains. I…"

"Nodoka's right. It's the only possible answer I can think of," Yue said.

The words died on Setsuna's tongue. Yue's face was solemn.

"No demon should have that kind of reaction to magic. Setsuna…from what I found, you're a magical entity. Konoka's powers drew the magic out. It was just lying dormant inside you and needed a stimulant. Konoka was the stimulant."

Konoka's eyes darted to the window again. It was brief an infinite-second's worth of movement but Setsuna caught it from the corner of her eye.

"So what are you saying exactly?" Setsuna

"What I'm saying is…," Yue said. She hesitated then said quietly, "You were made out of magic from the very beginning."

* * *

A.N: Ok so I was looking back at chapter 4 and I realized I had a couple of screw-ups with editing and scenes that would've definitely confused people. Nodoka's/Yue's room has two floors. The ground floor/bottom has an ottoman with a coffee table in the middle while the second has a massive, large row of book-shelves. That is where Konoka went. The first/ground floor also has a bookshelf tucked away in the corner that just has a bunch of scrolls on the shelves. Some are tied, some are not. They're the paper Nodoka uses to make her books.

Pinstripe Fedora: I think I might take you up on that offer. I'll hit you with a pm to work out the details when I get a chance. Rl stuff is taking away some of my time atm T.T. And what are your theories? I encourage you to post em up on the review section. I'm curious and don't worry about looking stupid because who knows, one of them might be right :P.

Spanish Girl: No she isn't a goddess but you're not entirely crazy ;]. And love is such a strong word. I'd say she has a crush right now.

Tsukanda: Hmmm guess I need to give more defining hints then xD. Konoka's hiding something alright. A lot of somethings.

Lance: I'm trying buddy

Keeper Aki: Love chemistry lol I like that xD

NegimaFan: Cheers mate. Appreciate it.

To new readers, welcome and I hope you enjoy reading. To those that have stuck with this story so far, you have no idea how much I appreciate it. 3


	9. Chapter 9

Later that night Setsuna suffered from her first case of insomnia since over a decade. The sheets felt hot. She could hear laughter from the floor below which usually didn't bother her. Her hearing was powerful enough to hear even the wind rustling the leaves in the forest on a silent night and the palace was usually quiet at witching hour. She could hear the clinking of glasses, Jack's laughter that was usually loud rumble through the palace. Yet the only thing she was thinking about was what Yue had said.

_…You were made out of magic from birth…_

Setsuna stared up at the ceiling, turning those words over in her mind like a film on repeat. She had memories of her first attempt at flying, of seeing her parents' faces, of her first sword fight with her father. And Yue had had no explanation for her apparent demonic abilities. As a yell of outrage that sounded like it came from Ayaka echoed throughout the palace followed by an explosion of innocent but maniacal cackling Setsuna sat up, rubbing her eyes and threw the quilt of the blanket off, sliding out of bed and crossed over to the bath-room. It was connected to another room that used to be Haruna's until she'd destroyed it so they'd made it a cinema room instead since it already had a projector screen inside that Haruna herself had created.

Inside Setsuna turned on the tap and splashed water on her face. Holding the sides of the basin Setsuna exhaled deeply and raised her head staring at her reflection staring back at her sullenly. She had wings. She could crush this basin into rubble with her bare hands. She could change her fingernails into claws at will or if someone hit the right buttons and made her angry enough. Didn't that make her a demon? Setsuna didn't feel magical. Nekane, Al and Konoka, they were all creatures of magic. Even Ayaka was more magical than her. Her reflection gazed back at her with dark brown eyes and ivory skin looking as helpless as she felt. As a murderous scream rent the air followed by a door slamming Setsuna sighed, throwing open the door and walking out of the room into the corridor. The twins always liked to play tricks on Ayaka at this time of the night and annoy her. Ayaka was an easy target. Sometimes Setsuna wondered if they needed to go to a disciplinary school. The army maybe. Setsuna stretched and taking a deep breath left the room.

"Get back here you two!" Ayaka was shrieking somewhere from down below.

Vines were creeping along the walls of the hallway at a terrifying speed. She saw two white lights darting towards her, spiralling and zig-zagging over one another in aerial loops. Setsuna had one second to register that the twins, assumed shape-shifters, had gotten into Yue's potion cabinet again before she was bowled over by the two. Landing flat on her back Setsuna groaned, sitting up. The walls were covered in vines now. Reluctantly Setsuna stood up and making her wings unfurl from her shoulders, tucked them in to her sides and crouching, sprung across the corridor landing in the oncoming path of the two pocket rockets. Setsuna braced herself, hunkering down and caught them head-on, skidding backwards three feet from the force created by the speed.

"Since when did you two start getting so much interest in Yue's potions?" Setsuna said wryly, gazing down at them with a slight smile.

Fuuka just giggled, tucked up in Setsuna's arm while her sister grinned up at Setsuna impishly. They were currently the size of infants, no more than four years old wearing matching detective outfits they'd found somewhere, most probably the storage room on the bottom floor. Years upon years of experience and being around them 24 7 had taught Setsuna and everyone else to tell them apart even when they looked exactly the same down to the tiny pink scar they both had on their index finger. Fuuka was shyer.

"When Konoka came," Fuuka chirped, laughing.

Setsuna raised an eyebrow at her, wondering if she was playing with her.

"Yeah!" Fumika wriggled out of Setsuna's grasp, tumbling to the floor and adjusted her deerstalker cap. She crossed her arms and grinned, "Konoka's loaded with magic! It's awesome!"

"She's a born gypsy she's bound to be," Setsuna said but the words sounded hollow even to her. She was starting to believe Konoka _was _some kind of enchantress or at least part succubus. Damn that Jack.

She looked from to the other carefully. They didn't seem to be joking, just excited.

"No she's like _really loaded_," Fumika said, shaking her head. She spread her arms out wide, "Like this much. Her magic's even bigger than Al!"

Setsuna was about to ask her exactly what that meant when Ayaka appeared at the end of the hallway with her face resembling a clown's complete with the fuzzy red hair. All that was missing was the red nose.

"You two are dead!" Ayaka screamed as soon as she saw them.

"RUN!" Fuuka squealed, grabbing her sister's hand and bolting down the corridor.

Ayaka steam-rolled down the hallway after them leaving burn marks in the carpet, her vines following and gaining momentum at a startling rate. As she bulldozed past Setsuna smoke billowing out of her ears a dark chuckle echoed through the air near Setsuna.

"Can't sleep huh Setsuna?"

Setsuna jumped, whirling around. Jack was there, leaning against the vine-covered wall with crossed arms. He grinned at her, his face half shadowed.

"That's none of your business," Setsuna said.

Jack laughed and pushed himself off the wall, stretching. Setsuna winced as the sound of his bones cracking filled the air.

"Thinking about what the little bard said about ya?" Jack chuckled.

Setsuna looked at him, startled, "How did you…you were eavesdropping?"

"Not much else for a ghost to do," Jack said, his eyes glinting. He rolled his shoulder, glancing at her with a lecherous grin plastered across his face, "Ya know, she coulda gotten it wrong. Maybe the Konoka girl just has that kinda effect on you."

"I was crying," Setsuna said. "Because…because I thought in that moment she was so beautiful, so pure. I thought she was the purest, most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I thought she wasn't even human, not even a demon. What do you call that Jack?"

"I'd say a goddess but we know they don't exist eh. So I'd be betting on a seductress or some kind of demon with the ability to charm whoever she likes!" Jack laughed.

"Even someone who was born from magic?" Setsuna muttered.

"Look maybe you were an experiment or something for one of those magic folk. You know, an experiment done by a mage or sorcerer or gypsy or something. Don't feel so bad Setsuna," Jack mused. "You coulda been a piece of magic floating around and then bam, some gypsy mumbo jumbo or magic incantation and then you were squirted outta their minds."

"Please don't say squirted," Setsuna's eye twitched.

"You really wanna know the truth?" Jack laughed. "Wait til Al gets back. He might know. He's been around long enough."

With that the demon started to walk away, intertwining his fingers and cracking his elbows. Setsuna had no idea how he did that as a ghost.

"Or you could go see you know who in the forest," Jack laughed.

Setsuna glared daggers at the back of his head, preferring to remain silent. As usual it had about as much as effect as a leaf against a hurricane.

"Oh yeah…one more thing," Jack looked back at Setsuna with an expression of death, wide-eyed and said in a low, omniuous monotone, "The little miss was a hit with the audience earlier."

"I'm glad," Setsuna said stiffly. "What's your point?"

Jack turned around, laughing, "Bump the circus act to once a fortnight insteada once every month. Never seen anything like what your girl did."

"What did she do?" Setsuna didn't like where this was going.

Jack just pointed outside the window and rippled into non-existence, his raucous laughter echoing throughout the air. Setsuna rushed to the window. There, lying on top of the shimmering golden net with the robots, was a sea of clothing. Most of it was underwear, some were fine cloaks, other silk scarves and coats. But a lot of it was underwear. And footwear. Plenty of polished black leather shoes and glittering, diamond studded heels. The robots were having a fine time trying on the underwear, seemingly fascinated by it. As a male one put on a lacy underwear Setsuna realized that there was an even number of females and males. That was why Jack had been so happy. The pervert. He'd been watching girls take their underwear off for Konoka. Wait…take their underwear off for Konoka? What the hell kind of gypsy made girls take their underwear off for her?! Setsuna stared at the underwear, one eye twitching. She could hear a blood vessel throbbing. She would take care of that tomorrow. She knew Konoka wasn't a gypsy. And so did some of the others but no one, not even a born gypsy could do what she did. So that left…what had Jack said? A demon so a succubus? No that only came to people in their dreams. Enchantress? Sorceress? But Yue couldn't have gotten things wrong could she? Yue said that Konoka was the one that had "stimulated" her magic or whatever. Gypsies were an entirely different breed to enchantresses and sorcerers.

Gypsies used life and fire as the basis of their magic while the others didn' could also sense auras of people and animals and their heart beats. If hanging around Nekane for half her life had taught her anything it was that born gypsies weren't any different from regular gypsies. They were essentially walking magical tanks and had an easier time taming and befriending animals than ones that learnt gypsy magic but other than that there was no other difference between the two. So how did that fit in with her? Despite what Yue had said Setsuna remembered being born in the uzoku tribe in the mountains to two bird demon parents, two eagle bird demons. Yue couldn't have gotten it wrong could she? Setsuna was so preoccupied with her thoughts on the way back to her room that she failed to notice the lump in her bed. Setsuna locked the door behind her and slid back into bed. The lump moved. Setsuna bolted upright, almost toppling off the bed. The lump rose.

Setsuna was about to attack it when the lump made a little noise like a kitten and whined, "Secchaaaaaan why did you have to wake me up?"

Setsuna opened her mouth, found no words came out then swallowed and pulled back the covers to reveal a sleepy-eyed Konoka in nothing but a bra and draw-string cotton pants looking at her balefully.

"H-H-How did you get in my bed?!" Setsuna spluttered.

"You left the door open. I was cold," Konoka said in a small voice, cuddling up to Setsuna and snuggling against her, head in the crook of her neck.

Setsuna felt skin.

"You…what are you wearing?!"

"You don't like it?" Konoka blinked at her. "It's Ayaka's. She lent it to me."

"…You're wearing a…you're not wearing anything," Setsuna stammered.

"I'm wearing a bra and pants," Konoka said sleepily. "Calm down ok? It's not I'm going to molest you or anything."

Setsuna swallowed as Konoka draped a leg over her, sighing contently. Setsuna vowed never ever to listen to another one of Haruna's stories. As Konoka nestled her chin in Setsuna's shoulder comfortably Setsuna caught her shadow on the opposite wall. It might've been the way the moonlight shone through the window at the exact angle that made Konoka look like she had a massive head and horns.

Setsuna liked to think that it was just her imagination especially when Konoka's hand clutched Setsuna's shirt and she mumbled, "Don't move. It's not fun when my victims move."

Setsuna froze, staring at Konoka. She slowly inched away from her but Konoka held on tighter like an octopus. Ten minutes later Setsuna hadn't moved a muscle while Konoka had fallen sound asleep. As a slow, satisfied smile spread across her face Setsuna began to frantically pry Konoka's fingers off her, starting to panic. Then she heard the rustle of majestic, powerful wings. A shadow swooped past the floor. Setsuna looked to the window. Icarus was there, hovering outside the window. As Setsuna wondered whether it'd help her it opened its beak, making a cawing noise.

Laughter sounded in Setsuna's head. A voice of a teenage boy, filled with mirth and vigour, echoed.

_Having fun master? _

Setsuna stared at the griffon some more. Then stuck her finger in her ear, twisting it furiously. She was dreaming. This had to be a dream. That griffon did not just talk to her.

_Don't be scared. I just wanted to see if I could talk to you. I'm harmless. _

"You're talking in my head," Setsuna stared at it. "I don't…I can't…"

_Yeah I think it's weird too. I can't talk to people usually but you're different from everyone. You're stronger than them like way stronger. _Icarus sounded confused. _If you talk if your head to me we can communicate._

_Um…_

_That's a start. _The griffon laughed.

Setsuna threw him a dirty look. Icarus held up his two front paws as if surrendering.

_Konoka said you're harmless. _

_I am. You still gotta do that eye contact thing and bow. Everyone does that so I figure why change?_

_You attacked me when we first met without me having to do that anyway _

_Oh well…you smelt like food and I was hungry _

…_You are quite unlike any other griffon I've ever seen. _

_And how many griffons have you seen in your life master Setsuna?_

_Just one, a very long time ago while I was out in the mountains. And how can you manage to smirk when you don't even have any lips? _

_I've got my ways. So…do you like Lady Konoka? _

Setsuna glanced down at Konoka, trying very hard to ignore the griffon's piercing golden-eyed stare. And that weird feeling in her chest. Swish, swish. Setsuna could hear Icarus' lion tail whisking through the air, his powerful wings beating the air. It was soothing somehow, familiar territory.

_Do you lust after her?_

_What?! _

_I take that as a yes _

Setsuna whipped her head around, wincing as she got whiplash. Setsuna raised her hand to her now sore neck.

_Will you just go back to whatever it is you were doing before? _

_Don't worry a lot of people do. They say she was blessed with beauty far greater and more beautiful than the world will ever see _

"That sounds like something out of a fairy-tale," Setsuna looked at Icarus straight-faced and said out loud, "And who's they?"

_Oh uh you know, just people who see her. I'm gonna go catch some rats. Still hungry, later _

The griffon flew away, disappearing from the window. He was just playing around. Sullenly Setsuna lay back down, wondering how Konoka could know a wise guy griffon when the girl in question suddenly giggled and murmured something that Setsuna couldn't figure out. She gripped the sheet harder, a low moan coming from her.

"Konoka?" Setsuna said hesitantly, reaching out to shake her.

Then Konoka made a noise that sounded like a cross between a groan and a moan.

"Don't think dirty thoughts don't think dirty thoughts…." Setsuna mumbled to herself lying back down and shutting her eyes.

Just as she did she heard the sheets rustle loudly and a thump that sounded like Konoka had fallen out of bed. Setsuna counted silently in her head before opening her eyes to see Konoka scrambling to her feet, tangled in the bed covers. The brunette was blushing so badly she could have put a fire ambulance to shame.

"S-Sorry I…uh where's the bathroom?" Konoka said hastily, stumbling out of the covers.

Setsuna wordlessly pointed towards the open door that connected both rooms.

"Thanks," Konoka said and practically bolted out of the room.

She threw open the door of the opposite room and rushed inside slamming the door shut so hard the noise reverberated around the entire area. Setsuna looked at the now closed door of the bathroom with a mixture of utter bewilderment and amusement as she heard the sound of gushing water-Konoka had turned the taps on.

"Crazy," Setsuna shook her head and settled back down nestling her head in her hands to get to sleep.

Least that's what she thought. Just when she was about to she heard something-heavy footsteps trampling the wooden floors. A smell like perfume and lavender, shampoo drifted through the air.

Rose petals came to life in front of her, suspended in mid-air before twisting and fluttering in the wind and disappearing altogether. Setsuna thought she was dreaming. But she could still smell that smell, lingering in the air like a fragrant perfume. Suddenly an image surfaced in her mind of Konoka in a pure white dress with a gold turtle-shell comb in her hair, her hair loose and flowing in haphazard carefree curls. She was laughing, running along the shoreline of a magnificent golden beach with her arms spread out like an eagle's. The water rushed up against Konoka's feet, lapping her toes and she spun around, blowing a kiss to someone. Setsuna bolted upright again, breathing hard her hand on over her chest. Where did that come from? She heard the sound of the dog barking getting closer near the door. Then all of a sudden it stopped. The door creaked open and light footsteps hurry across the carpet.

"Konoka, did you hear-" Setsuna stopped turning, her words dying in her throat.

Konoka was standing in front of her with no clothes on in her full naked glory. Grinning down at Setsuna she clasped her hands together and dove back into the bed underneath the sheets.

Setsuna leapt backwards, almost pitching over the edge of the bed as Konoka popped out from underneath the sheets, saying in a loud, hyper voice and grinning, "Hiya!"

Setsuna was pretty sure she hadn't lost her voice but nothing was coming out. Then she realized Konoka had a pair of furry brown dog ears sticking out of her head and no ears and her hair was tousled and wild like she had just spent the day in gale force winds.

"What-"

Konoka put her fingers on Setsuna's lips, her eyes seeming to sparkle. There was a bump at the bed-sheets near Konoka's spine. Gingerly with mounting fear Setsuna slowly took the bed-sheets off. A fluffy, dark dog tail was sticking out at the base of Konoka's spine, wagging in the air excitedly. Setsuna was speechless.

"Do you like it?" Konoka asked with a radiant, earth-shattering smile.

Setsuna shielded her face. It was glowing. It was literally glowing, "Um…yeah but-"

"Great!" Konoka moved, straddling Setsuna.

"H-Hey w-what are you…" Setsuna stammered.

Giggling Konoka moved further up, putting one of her legs in between Setsuna's, "You're cute when you stutter."

She kissed her. Setsuna's brain shut down for a good minute. She froze. She felt tongue. She tasted something sweet, wild that reminded her of tropical fruit and sandy beaches. It flooded her brain, her mind until the only thing she could concentrate on was how Konoka's lips were pressed up against hers and her tongue was working hers. Her kiss was gentle, passionate. Konoka drew back, her face half hidden in the shadows and smiled. Setsuna could only stare up at her, dazed.

"You should kiss me back," Konoka told her.

She leaned down her hair falling in carefree waves around her and kissed her again, her hands gripping her arms. It only took one second for Setsuna to wrap her arms around Konoka's waist and pull her closer, wanting to taste every bit of her. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew this wasn't right but Konoka just tasted and felt so good.

A whistle cut through the air. Konoka whipped her head around, disappointment flashing across her eyes. Setsuna craned her head, blinking. It was like there was a fog that was obscuring her mind, a euphoric haze. She tried to focus.

"Why'd you have to ruin it? We were having fun," Konoka whined, one ear folding downwards.

Setsuna shook her head dizzily. There was no way that there was another Konoka standing the doorway. No…no she must've snapped.

"Because she's not your toy to play with," Konoka rolled her eyes.

"But you play with toys all the time," The Konoka on top of Setsuna complained. Shifting she nestled her head down on Setsuna's chest, saying in a muffled voice, "Can't I just have some fun with her for the night? You've got an eternity to keep her to yourself."

Setsuna looked slowly from the Konoka lying on top of her to the one at the doorway, feeling an odd sense of confusion, dawning terror and curiosity.

"Get off her you know what happens when you play with someone for too long," The Konoka at the doorway said sternly clapping her hands.

Grumbling the Konoka on top of Setsuna sat up, climbing off Setsuna and going to stand beside Konoka. Setsuna rubbed her eyes hard, sitting up. The fog was clearing and she realized she wasn't hallucinating. There really were two Konokas. The one standing at the door was the normal one. The second one was sulking, her tail hanging and one ear folded downwards.

"Konoka…" Setsuna finally said. "Who is that and why does she look like you?"

Konoka hesitated then took a deep breath and said stepping into the room and closing the door behind her, "There's something I have to tell you…I was cursed a very long time ago by a mage."

"And this is part of your curse?"

"Yeah…she cursed me with split personalities and this is one of them."

"I have a name," The other Konoka mumbled sourly. "It's Rose."

Setsuna looked at "Rose" strangely before speaking, "Why did she come out?"

At this Konoka blushed brighter than a tomato. Rose seemed to perk up, her face brightening and exclaimed, "It's because she felt -!"

"Shhh!" Konoka clapped her hand over Rose's mouth hastily. Throwing Setsuna a sheepish look she said, "Rose comes out whenever I feel attracted someone."

It took a few minutes for Setsuna to take that in. It took another couple of minutes to figure what she meant by that. Her insides felt tied up, like they were in knots. It wasn't a good feeling. In fact she felt kind of queasy.

"You mean…you…you're…" Setsuna's throat closed. She looked away, unable to face Konoka.

Tearing Konoka's hand away from her mouth Rose blurted out, "She thinks you're hot! She was dreaming about you a couple of hours ago and-!"

"Rose!" Konoka cried out, her voice rising high decibels.

Setsuna felt her face heat up like an oven. She remembered now-the curse.

"I-It's not-I mean-you…I…Rose! I'll just go back to my room!" Konoka stumbled over her words.

She dragged Rose out and slammed the door shut. Setsuna put her hand over her heart, letting out a deep breath. She had to be careful. That was too close, far too close. That was the one thing she hadn't told Konoka. She couldn't love, not ever. Not again. And her stupid heart wouldn't stop racing. Setsuna closed her eyes. Tomorrow she'd make these feelings go away. Yue couldn't do it, not yet but there were other ways to get rid of emotions.

* * *

A.N: Well whaddya know Konoka's full of surprises isn't she? :]. How many more secrets do you think she's hiding? Or rather...how many more people?

KeeperAki: In this fic she's a full bird demon remember that ;P. And as for your question about her being made out of magic well, let's just say Setsuna is more than meets the eye xD. Much more.

Lance: I'm glad you're liking this story. I hope I can keep your interest going :D.

PinstripeFedora: Haha yeah death by bubbles would be undignified. As for your theories, siren or veela...well you're in the right territory. Konoka does have "charisma". Keep on thinking along those lines. You're actually quite close.

ForbiddenAnimeAuthor: Welcome! And thanks for enjoying the story that's what I'm aiming for ;]. I hope you enjoy the ride :]

NegimaFan: I am sorry about that I'll try to be less confusing in the future. There's not really any need to feel sorry for Setsuna. I've got grand plans for her :D.


	10. Chapter 10

_The prince was brought to a hollowed out cave in the side off the mountain and imprisoned inside by chains under the surveillance of two of his own warriors who stood outside and rolled a boulder across the mouth of the cave, leaving only an inch of space so that the prince would be able to breathe. Captain Azuma's body was retrieved from the river that flowed through the forest in between the mountains when the moon had risen to its peak. The prince's father flew to them and relieved the guards of their post, deciding to watch his son himself. Hearing his father speak of Captain Azuma's retrieval, the prince begged to see his friend's body at least once before it was cremated but his father refused and warned him that if he spoke he would incur execution on the spot. So the prince spent the night alone in the dark cave without even a moment of peace in his heart waiting until the morning for his death to come, weeping in grief. _

Konoka looked down, wiping her eyes. It was night time and the moon was high. She had been immersed in the book since the morning, not even coming out of her room except when she felt like eating. She went out into the forest behind to pick some berries off the trees and ate dinner with the others. Weirdly, Setsuna had been absent then. According to the twins she'd been out in the Colosseum with Icarus who had taken it upon himself to help her clear out the underwear. The robots were protesting. Konoka predicted that by the time the night was over they'd have an uprising on their hands. As Konoka pondered whether being immortal meant that Setsuna didn't need to eat, she heard a crash from outside then a knock. That was weird.

"Konoka?" It was Setsuna but her voice sounded slurred.

"Coming!"Konoka called back. She got up from the chair, hurrying to the door and opened it to reveal a sleepy-looking Setsuna. A sleepy Setsuna who was swaying slightly. "Secchan? Aren't you meant to be outside...?"

Setsuna just looked at her blankly.

"...Never mind. What are you doing here?"

"You," Setsuna just grinned at Konoka lop-sidedly, head against the door-frame and eyes half closed.

"Um...what?" Konoka said. Peering around Setsuna, Konoka asked, "Is there anyone with you?"

"Nope," Setsuna said giving her a roguish grin. Wait a minute, what?

Roguish? Konoka thought to herself. Okay so she'd admitted she felt attracted to Setsuna but that didn't mean she loved her. A crush was different from love and anyway... Setsuna was having trouble staying awake. Or her balance. The only thing keeping her steady was the door. Setsuna took one step inside and pitched forwards into a startled Konoka's arms. Setsuna didn't move, seeming satisfied with how she was.

"Kono…" Setsuna murmured. "I…I loff…"

"Yes I love you too Secchan," Konoka said gently, humouring her. "Now let's get you inside before someone sees you."

As Konoka closed the door and dragged her inside-she really had to-Setsuna felt like deadweight, the latter asked in a drowsy voice, "Really?"

Konoka looked down at her. Suddenly she felt a twinge in her heart. Setsuna seemed to really want to believe her. Konoka had never met anyone who could look so adorable while drunk in her life.

As Konoka carefully laid Setsuna down on the bed, she said, "Yes really. Now can you tell me why you aren't cleaning the underwear?"

"All done. Robots go bye bye..." Setsuna gave her the biggest smile, dark eyes shining like the stars outside in the night sky. Again Konoka felt that twinge in her heart.

"...You killed the robots?" Konoka stared at her.

Setsuna nodded and sighed, closing her eyes, "Sing me something."

"...What?"

"Sing me something."

"You need rest Secchan. You don't need me singing to you."

Setsuna didn't respond. Konoka poked her. Setsuna shot up ramrod straight revelation dawning on her face. Apparently she'd came upon some brilliant revolutionary idea.

"Secchan…?" Konoka said, watching her carefully.

"Les make out," Setsuna beamed at her.

"….What?" Konoka looked at her blankly. Surely Setsuna couldn't mean that.

"Leeeees-" Setsuna started, drawing the word out.

"Okay never mind," Konoka turned to Setsuna, taking both hands in hers and gazed straight into her eyes. And she forgot what she was going to say for just one tiny little second as she realized how warm and tender her eyes looked when they weren't closed off and reserved. Shaking her head she said, "Listen to me we can't make out. If we do terrible, very terrible things will happen."

"Noooooooo….good happen!" Setsuna said brightly.

_Oh god let me jump her! _

Konoka snapped around, yelping in terror as Rose's voice sounded in her head, excited.

_Rose?! I thought you were-_

_Yeah me too! But I think I've gotten a soul or something! It's really nice in here. All squishy and stuff._

There was the sound of drawers opening in her head and papers being rifled with._ Ooooh hey so this is what you were dreaming about with Secchan? _

_G-Go away! You're not supposed to exist inside me! _

Konoka felt something pop in her head. Rose was gone leaving Konoka bewildered and a little apprehensive. Rose had never existed inside her before. She only came out when she felt lust. Setsuna was still gazing at her, puppy dog eyes and lop-sided grin present. Coughing Konoka continued trying to keep her voice from shaking, "Why don't we just lie down and cuddle?"

Setsuna's eyes watered, "Whaz about wine?"

"….What?"

"Wiiiiine!"

"…You're really drunk aren't you? This isn't the bar remember? This is the room you let me sleep in, the one on the same floor as Haruna-"

"This ish Haruns' room anywash," Setsuna slurred. "She gots plenty o…" Setsuna hiccupped. "Of…"

"Haruna's room is down the corridor," Konoka blinked at her.

"No…no," Setsuna sounded irritated. "Ha..'s…room…Konowif…"

She seemed to lose her train of thought and shaking her head, looked at Konoka for help.

"I'm here with you?" Konoka asked tentatively.

"Ye…!" Setsuna's face lit up. She pointed at Konoka then at herself, face flushed, "Us!"

She giggled.

"Oh my god! Just how drunk are you?" Konoka groaned.

Setsuna just burst out laughing, toppling over and curling into foetal position.

"Great," Konoka muttered. She pulled Setsuna upright, wondering who on earth this person was in front of her, giving her the goofiest, most ridiculous smile she'd ever seen-and snapped her fingers in front of Setsuna's face, "Wake up!"

Setsuna just gave her that stupid, dumb smile. Funny, Konoka hadn't known her heart could beat so fast. Setsuna tipped over, falling against Konoka and nuzzled her.

"Warm," Setsuna said, her voice muffled against Konoka.

Konoka, who was caught somewhere between amusement and concern. This couldn't be healthy. Konoka briefly wondered if bird demons could die from alcohol overdose. Then she squeaked as Setsuna suddenly pushed her down, cuddling her like a huge stuffed teddy bear. With an iron grip, Setsuna locked arms around Konoka's neck, sprawled over her and rested her head against Konoka, sighing.

A knock rapped and Nodoka called, "Konoka? It's Nodoka. Is Setsuna inside?"

Relieved Konoka called back, "Yes!"

She pried Setsuna off her, slipping a pillow underneath her quickly before Setsuna latched onto her again, muttering something with eyes closed. She hurried to the door, opening it. Nodoka was standing there anxiously in her night-clothes.

Before she could say anything Konoka said, "Why is she drunk?"

"Uh…" Nodoka started. "Well she was drinking absinthe."

Konoka stared at her. Absinthe was the most lethal alcohol in existence. And most powerful.

"Is she crazy?!" Konoka yelped, her voice ringing off the walls.

"It's okay. Setsuna's a demon it's not going to affect her much," Nodoka reassured her. "Last time in a drinking game she drank ten bottles before passing out."

"How much has she had to drink now?" Konoka asked

"Um...we lost count after 11 bottles," Nodoka said.

Behind Konoka Setsuna burst out laughing in a high-pitched squeal that was maniacal. Nodoka winced. Again Konoka felt something strange from her, a wave of power that seemed to be leashed, constrained within the layers of her aura. It was just for an instant.

"I guess I'll leave her with you. Will you be able to get her to bed by herself?"

"Yes I guess but 11 bottles?" Konoka muttered, frowning.

"She'll be okay. Alcohol gets diluted easier in demons but there is something I wanted to ask you," Nodoka said. She looked at Konoka curiously, "Setsuna was acting distant today. I'm sure you noticed it yourself. Did something happen with you two last night?"

"No," Konoka lied.

Nodoka looked relieved then said, "Alright then. Take care of Setsuna okay? I don't know why she came to you but she seems to like you."

Konoka wasn't sure how to feel about that. As Nodoka turned to walk away she continued, "Another thing, Setsuna doesn't want me telling you this but I think it's better that you know. Setsuna can't love. That's why she always keeps a distance from everyone else,"

"But you just said she likes me."

"I don't know what it is. I think it's a crush but..." Nodoka said. She paused, seeming to gather her courage and said, meeting Konoka's eyes, "If I may say…it's strange that she's acting this way towards you. She's known you for less than a month and she's already treating you as if you were…well a friend she's known for a very long time."

"I think you're reading too much into this Nodoka," Konoka said dismissively, laughing. "We barely even know each other. At best we're just friends that's it!"

"Listen to me Konoka," Nodoka said with a strange mix of apprehensiveness and nervousness. "When Setsuna saved Yue and me from those wolves she wasn't right after it. She was dangerous."

"What are you talking about Nodoka? If I didn't know any better it's like you're trying to scare me," Konoka smiled at her.

"Setsuna was blinded Konoka," Nodoka said, her face turning tense. "We were cornered..."

* * *

_Nodoka backed up against the tree, searching for a way out. Any way but they were surrounded on all sides by a pack of snarling shaggy-haired wolves, larger than normal with hackles raised. Yue was out cold beside her, blood dripping from her forehead. Nodoka knelt down, flipping open the book and rifling through pages wildly. The wolves advanced, heads lowered. All these stories, tales, legends, what use were they to Nodoka now when she couldn't even protect herself from simple creatures like wolves? Yue moaned beside her. Yue was sick, suffering from pneumonia. Her fever had reached its peak and if Nodoka didn't get any help soon she'd die. Nodoka blinked back tears. This wasn't how she expected things to go not after the deal she'd made. She didn't want to die out here in this forest. A wolf leaped. Nodoka screamed, twisting. The wolf's jaws ripped a huge chunk from the cloak she wore. It skidded, shaking its head. The other wolves closed in on Nodoka and Yue. Nodoka shut her eyes, covering Yue with her own body. Then there was a sound of feathers rustling like an eagle soaring underneath the morning sun. Nodoka opened her eyes. A whirling dervish of white was flitting through the wolves, clawing through them like paper and sending them flying through the air with pained howls. Within seconds the wolves were gone, fleeing. The dervish stopped and Nodoka saw it was in the form of a bare-footed winged girl wearing a snow white yukata with long, sharp claws. As she turned, highlighted in a column of moonlight, Nodoka realized her skin and hair were ivory white to match her yukata but her eyes were the lightest blue she'd ever seen, gentle and caring. She knelt down in front of Nodoka. _

"_Are you alright?" She asked. _

"_Y-Yes."_

_"What about your friend?" She glanced at Yue. _

"_She's got pneumonia," Nodoka couldn't keep the anxiety out of her voice or the tone of begging. "Please, you have to help us. We've been out in the cold for five nights"_

_The girl seemed to understand instinctively. She got up, going to Yue and started to pick her up when Nodoka caught a flash of teeth in the darkness. _

"_Look out!" Nodoka cried. _

_It was too late. The wolf, the size of a bear, lunged out from the darkness, knocking the girl down. The girl pushed the wolf's muzzle, fire springing from her hand. The wolf howled, backing off as fire surged into its open jaws. _

_The girl sprang to her feet, shouting, "Run!"_

_Nodoka hesitated. That was when the wolf slashed the air blindly. The strike caught the girl in the eye. An arc of blood sprayed across the air. There was a terrible scream. Terror gripped Nodoka's heart. The girl twisted trembling, hand covering her face. And the wolf disappeared into the night. Nodoka approached her, reaching up to take her hands with her own which were shaking so badly. _

"_Let me see maybe it's not so-"_

"_If you tell me which direction I'm walking in I can led the both of you to safety," She said in a wavering voice. "Put your friend on my back." _

_Nodoka was too scared not to do as she said. Later she learned that the girl's name was Setsuna and safety was an asylum that was near the city. A kind lady by the name of Nekane took her and Yue in but Setsuna was different. When Nekane tried to help restore Setsuna's eyesight-she was a gypsy-Setsuna snapped at her and the fire Nodoka had seen before spilled out, consuming the corridor, the rooms and everything else in the building. Nodoka was terrified. Then Al had appeared from mid-air in front of Setsuna. In the middle of a blazing inferno he'd calmed Setsuna with a simple word. It'd meant nothing to Nodoka but to Setsuna it'd seemed to mean the world because she'd seemed to lose all energy, her body sagging and she'd dropped to the floor, staring blankly at the tiles with ruined eyes, the fire vanishing in an instant. _

* * *

Konoka stared at Nodoka, stunned. She wasn't sure which stunned her more. That this place was an asylum or that Setsuna had set the place on fire or how Nodoka and Yue had come here.

"This place isn't an asylum anymore but Setsuna still remembers it like it was. And so do Jack, Al and Nekane," Nodoka said quietly. Konoka wanted to say something then Nodoka put her hand on her shoulder and said, "I'm just telling you to be careful that's all."

Konoka looked back over her shoulder. Setsuna's shoulders were shaking. She was laughing into the pillow. Nodoka smiled at her pleasantly then walked away. As she did Konoka felt a ripple of power snake out then it was gone. Konoka watched her go, curiosity piqued. Nodoka was unlike any other story bard Konoka had met. After a moment Konoka closed the door, turning back to Setsuna, troubled. Setsuna wouldn't hurt her...

"Secchan...?" Konoka touched her shoulder, looking at her apprehensively.

Setsuna shot upright almost hitting Konoka, an expression of deep realization plastered across her face. Setsuna wouldn't hurt her on purpose, Konoka amended in her head.

"Your griffon can talk to me," Setsuna said with an air of someone coming to an epiphany. For one moment Konoka thought she had a moment of being sober just for a second until she saw how unfocused her eyes were.

"...What?" Konoka stared at her. "That's impossible."

"That's why I drank," Setsuna murmured.

"...You drank because a griffon talked to you?"

"...Yes."

Konoka looked outside the window thoughtfully then back at Setsuna who was swaying. Her heart was beating so fast too and Konoka noticed that she was breathing hard. Konoka touched her hand, stroking it slowly, soothingly.

"Relax Secchan," Konoka said gently. "The alcohol's just going through your system. There's something I want to ask you...are you the prince?"

Setsuna's face crumbled and her eyes shone with tears. Konoka regretted asking the question immediately.

"You hate me don't you? That's why you're asking me," Setsuna whimpered, swallowing. She wailed, throwing her arms around Konoka and burst out into choked sobs, "I'm a murderer! I killed my best friend!"

Konoka hugged her, whispering soothing words in her ear and patted her back which heaved with each sob as she drew deep, shuddering breaths. Konoka gently pried her off, taking her hand and pulled her to the window. She opened it and climbed on, holding onto Setsuna's hand.

"What are you doing?" Setsuna whimpered.

"We're going for a ride," Konoka said. "You need some fresh air."

With a whoop she leapt off the window-sill, Setsuna in tow. Setsuna probably thought she was crazy. She was a little bit but not that crazy. The minute the wind rushed against her, caressing her Konoka unlocked one of her powers. Instead of falling to their doom they were sailing through the air in an upwards climb.

"Y-You can fly?!" Setsuna yelped.

"Yep!"

There was a shrill cry from overhead. Icarus swooped down, doing a somer-sult in the air near them. He groaned in her head.

_Remind me never to be with her when she's drunk my Lady! She decimated the robots and underwear with one move! _

Konoka laughed, free and as happy as the sun she was born under. And in that moment she forgot to be careful. As Icarus' feathers brushed Konoka's skin, she felt it-a ripple of her true power leak out to the surface. For just a split second she felt all the happiness drain from her. Terror followed by panic seized her heart, stopping her dead in her tracks. Then Icarus' voice was crying in her mind.

_My lady, your glamour! Hurry, conceal it or they'll catch you!_

Konoka quickly threw up her glamour, the protective shield forged from sheer willpower that cloaked her true nature from anyone who wanted to find her through mystical or magical means. She felt someone brush the edges of her consciousness, a fleeting touch then a ripple of annoyance that was close to anger. It was one she knew well. It tried to hold her tightly then it was gone in a flash. Konoka breathed a sigh of relief. That had been too close. They'd almost caught her.

"Konoka…?" Setsuna's voice startled her.

Konoka jumped ten foot in the air. Putting a hand on her heart she looked at Setsuna and gave her a reassuring smile, the one that always worked on people who weren't like her who she wanted to make them feel better. It worked. Although Konoka wondered if that was the alcohol. She drifted closer, passing Icarus whose eyes were on her, waiting, watching to see what she'd do. Konoka flashed him an ok symbol with her fingers behind her back and took Setsuna's hand gently, caressing her skin. Setsuna was shaking so badly.

"I promise you," Konoka said using the same soothing, gentle voice. "I promise you Secchan, that I'm never going to hurt you ever. You can trust me."

Setsuna's hazed eyes flickered, a moment of clarity dousing them. Konoka moved closer closing the distance between them and planted a kiss on her. Setsuna's eyes shot open.

She pushed Konoka away, wings shooting out of her shoulders and yelped, "What are you doing?!"

"Kissing you?" Konoka frowned at her. "Usually people don't react like that."

Setsuna blushed bright red. Konoka flew closer but the closer she got the further Setsuna back-pedalled.

"Secchaaaan come here!" Konoka sang.

Setsuna flew into the backdrop of the moon. Konoka paused, awed as she was illuminated in an instant. Her hair transformed into white, her eyes baby blue and a white, soft glow shone from her skin and clothes. Konoka paused, eyes raking over Setsuna's form. She didn't know how or why but her features seemed more androgynous, handsome like this. Konoka could see Setsuna's jaw, strong and defined. Her hair was fluffy. Konoka giggled to herself. What a strange word for a person like Setsuna. Konoka floated towards Setsuna, taking her hand before she could fly away.

"You know...you are really beautiful," Konoka told her.

Setsuna was frozen, staring at her with fearful, wide eyes. Konoka had never heard someone's heart beat so fast. She was so scared. Though that could've been the absinthe. Konoka had seen it raise human heartbeats to dangerous levels. Konoka had never seen a demon consume one, much less more than 11. Konoka pulled her close to her, casting a net of comfort over Setsuna and placed her arm around her waist holding her affectionately. This had to work. She could make anyone relax if she wanted to just by touch, or with just a smile. It was a power of hers. It was her only power that she had right now. Not a gypsy power but her very own, gifted with it since her birth. It was the one she had used to put Setsuna under her spell. It was lust at most, blind, hopeless lust. Only...she usually stopped at this point. Right now she wasn't so sure she wanted to. She _liked _how Setsuna made her feel. Kind of like someone who was real. Kind like someone with a crush.

"Secchan?"Konoka said, keeping her finger around Setsuna's. "I told you...you don't need to be scared of me. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want…"

Konoka trailed off as Setsuna whimpered. She really was scared. Setsuna was looking at her with wet eyes. Fear and desire clouded them in equal amounts. It was like Setsuna couldn't figure out what to feel. Konoka tugged Setsuna towards her, pressing a hand on the back of her neck and kissed her again. She put comfort, threw out layers after layers of her power just enough to calm her down but not enough for _them_ to catch her. Setsuna's pulse shot through the roof, her breath catching. Then she gave in. Just like everybody did. Konoka didn't want to stop. She could feel her own heart race like a drum against her chest as Setsuna pulled her closer.

And down below neither of them noticed the two figures tucked against the corner of the palace, watching them. One in sheer terror while the other was watching like Christmas had come early.

"We've hit gold Makie! I knew she was hiding something!" The second one cackled gleefully.

* * *

A.N: Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you enjoy this. I'm taking a break won't update until the holidays are over so I figured I'd leave a present for you guys. Til next time, my dear readers, enjoy and take care of yourselves over this very happy Christmas :D

Sandanio: You gave me a great idea thanks! :D

NegimaFan: Will do buddy. I'm glad I lifted your spirits after a crappy day. I know what that feels like =.=;

Pinstripe: Nope no past life connection/reincarnation connection. And no, they haven't met each other in a past life and weren't made to forget one another. Although those were some pretty good theories better than what I came up with at the start of this story initially lol.

KJacket: Thanks!


	11. Chapter 11

When Setsuna woke up she felt groggier than usual. Setsuna's head hurt. She touched it only to have it throb. Wincing Setsuna climbed out of bed. It was hard to focus or think properly. She tried to remember...anything but couldn't. Setsuna yelped, toppling over and landing hard as a murmur sounded from beside her.

"Ow..." Setsuna groaned, sitting up.

She froze. Konoka was sitting at the other side of the bed on a rickety wooden chair, head resting on the covers nestled in between her arms. She shifted. Her eyes were closed. Setsuna stumbled to her feet, heart thudding against her rib-cage. Konoka looked so peaceful there. The book Nodoka had lent her was lying on the dressing table, opened. Had she been reading that all night? As Konoka shifted, mumbling something incoherently, Setsuna placed her hand over her heart taking a deep breath. She needed some air. Setsuna walked past Konoka then realized she wasn't walking in a straight line. She realized this when she crashed into Konoka instead of going for her window. Konoka cried out, tumbling out of the chair. Setsuna had enough sense to reach out to grab her but Konoka's foot kicked the chair into Setsuna which made her fall. Konoka hit the floor while Setsuna ended up falling on top of Konoka. Right on top of her. With her face buried in her chest. Time seemed to stop dead. Setsuna started to hyperventilate then leaped backwards, practically launching herself into the air. Her wings were still out. Her wings were still out! That wasn't normal...was it? Konoka was sitting up, giggling to herself softly.

"Careful you almost hit the ceiling," Konoka told her, smiling affectionately at her.

Setsuna just stared at her. Her heart was beating really, really fast. There was no way this could be healthy. Her heart hadn't beat like this in decades, not since Tsukuyomi.

"What happened last night?" Setsuna swallowed.

Konoka stood up, picking up the chair and righting it as she did. She said, "You were drunk. Nodoka told me you drunk absinthe."

Embarrassment flushed Setsuna's cheeks.

"I was worried when you didn't wake up," Konoka said, frowning. "But Nodoka told me that since you were a demon it's normal."

"What's normal?"

"Your heart slowed down. I thought it was going to stop but then it started again," Konoka said.

Setsuna drifted in the air, absorbing what she had just said. It was hard because of the hangover she was experiencing. She was pretty sure it was a hangover. She had seen Haruna have one and Yue had described the symptoms to her once before. At the time Setsuna had thought that Haruna had been suffering some kind of mental break-down from locking herself in her room and in total isolation in order to create "better" creations. After a month, when Setsuna had started to get concerned about Haruna, they'd opened the door to find Haruna completely drunk. That had been Setsuna's first brush with alcohol. Blurry vision, inability to speak properly, unable to focus on anything, slow comprehension and misjudging distances as well as limb displacement was what Yue had described it as. Setsuna would've figured it was better to call it getting bludgeoned by a sledgehammer.

"Okay Secchan just come down. You're still not completely sober," Konoka cooed, cupping her hands around her mouth.

There was something nagging at Setsuna's mind. She had thought about it just then but it'd disappeared like dust being thrown to the wind. Setsuna looked down at her suspiciously.

"I didn't just get drunk. I came to y...you and...you..." Setsuna stopped as a spasm of pain flitted through her brain. Never again would she drink so much.

Konoka was watching her, suddenly concerned. Dimly Setsuna was aware of her heart skipping a beat. Out of fear? Nervousness? That was curious. Setsuna shook her head as spots of black danced in front of her eyes.

"Just come down from there Secchan," Konoka called. "You're not completely sober yet."

Setsuna drifted further away from Konoka, continuing to eye her. There was something wrong here. She was missing something. She had just thought about it two seconds ago too but it was like her mind kept on skating over it whenever she got close. Setsuna tried to think and was rewarded with another brain spasm. Spots of black danced before her eyes. She blacked out. When she came to, eyes opening halfway blearily she was staring up at a pair of dark chocolate eyes that were twin pools of pure, unadulterated love and warmth capable of drawing in the strongest soul. Setsuna shot out of Konoka's arms. Least, she tried to. Her wings weren't working. They just flapped in place weakly, barely able to create a powerful enough stroke. Konoka set her down on the bed gently. Whap. Setsuna's right wing hit the book. Konoka's hand snapped out, snatching it before it fell. Putting it back on the dressing table she watched Setsuna, sitting back down in the chair.

"Relax okay? You need rest," Konoka said gently.

Setsuna pushed herself up, mumbling, "I'm fi.."

She covered her mouth as she felt something rise in her throat. Nausea took over. Konoka pushed her back down firmly, stroking her hair in easy, affectionate strokes. Setsuna found that soothing somehow. The nausea passed leaving Setsuna feeling sick. At least her vision wasn't swimming anymore.

"You know...you were really cute last night," Konoka said, giving her a small smile.

Setsuna shot upright, head snapping to her. She stuttered, "W-W-What did I...?"

"Oh nothing really," Konoka giggled. "You just flirted."

Setsuna's eyes bulged.

"Really I didn't know you were such a Casanova," Konoka grinned at her. "Do you do that with all the girls?"

Setsuna opened her mouth then closed it, staring at Konoka in horror. Konoka broke out into laughter. It echoed around the room, richer than anything Setsuna had ever heard.

"You should see your face," Konoka gasped, shaking her head.

Setsuna quickly rearranged her expression, making it composed once more. Yet she couldn't help a little tiny smile from forming. Yes, this was comfortable. This was safe. They were friends and that was all. Even if Rose had spilled out that Konoka had been attracted to her. Even if Konoka's smile and laugh, the way she moved mesmorized Setsuna. Attraction didn't equal love. No, so Setsuna was perfectly safe.

"Whatever I said when I was drunk...please ignore it," Setsuna mumbled.

"I'll try," Konoka smiled at her. "Now, why were you avoiding me?"

Setsuna looked at her, confused.

"You disappeared yesterday," Konoka said.

A rush of memories flooded her mind. The robots, Icarus, the robots being obliterated by one swing of Yuunagi, Nodoka and Yue, early afternoon turning into late night and flying through the window and tripping over her own feet. Setsuna flushed, embarrassment and disgust washing over her. She'd been a coward, running away from feelings under the pretense of wanting to clean up the lingerie debacle with the robots.

"I wasn't hungry," Setsuna lied.

"So you stayed locked up in the library drinking yourself silly?" Konoka said, raising an eyebrow at her.

Setsuna lowered her eyes. Her head was starting to throb again. She said defensively, "Your clone tried to rape me in my sleep. Y-You have a clone. You caused all those people to go crazy on your first show. It's not even been a month and you've shown me more surprises than I can take. For a gypsy...you are far too powerful. I've never seen anything like you. You...I've never seen even a born gypsy do what you can do. You charm people without even trying. Everyone was on their feet for you. They were throwing their un...underwear for you. Do you know how confusing that is? A-And Rose. You...what she said about you and me. And...my head hurts."

"I don't do it on purpose," Konoka said.

Setsuna looked at her, "Then what were you doing to those people who were so taken by you when you performed your first show earlier this week?"

"Well," Konoka smiled, winking at her. "That was on purpose."

Setsuna suddenly felt calmness wash over her. She blinked, wondering why something so simple as winking relaxed her. Attraction, yes that was it. Konoka _was_ beautiful. Setsuna was simply attracted to her. Which didn't make it any easier when the girl was inches away from her and looking at her like that. Wait...

"You're doing it again!" Setsuna accused.

"Doing what?" Konoka asked.

"Seducing!"

Konoka's eyes seemed to soften. She said, "Believe me Secchan. I'm not trying to do anything to you."

Setsuna looked at her suspiciously.

"You're cute but there's something you're scared of right? That's okay. I like the way we are now," Konoka said.

Setsuna blinked, surprised. Konoka's expression grew thoughtful.

"You know I was thinking about this while you were sleeping. Why did Ike talk to you that night?" Konoka mused.

"Ask him," Setsuna mumbled. "Or Yue or Nodoka. I didn't want to he just talked to me."

"When Ike wants to talk to people he can't unless you're really special magic-wise," Konoka said, glancing down at Setsuna. "Or if you're from nobility. I figured it was just because you were a prince but he told me you've got extraordinary power. It kind of fits with what Yue was talking about, you being made from magic."

Setsuna had to laugh. It was hollow, dry even to her ears. "So what are you saying? That I was made by sorcerer or something?"

"Well..." Konoka said thoughtfully. She reached out, taking the book from the dressing table and passed it to Setsuna, smiling at her, "According to the story Nodoka wrote you were born in the Uzoku tribe of the eagle clan of the Northern Mountains as the Prince. You probably are magical because...well, bringing a baby into the world is also magic in itself, don't you think?"

Setsuna fell into silence, thinking about that. Konoka had a point there. It didn't negate the fact that Setsuna was essentially a result of magical experimentation but it softened the blow.

Konoka pressed the book into Setsuna's hands and said, "Here I stopped after I read about the gypsy saving the prince. Now that I know it's you I won't read the rest because it's sensitive for you."

Setsuna looked at Konoka, surprised and a little grateful. She smoothed out the pages, catching a glimpse of where Konoka had read up to. It was three quarters to the end.

"Tell me Secchan," Konoka said, her voice suddenly soft. "You told me the prince lived out his life as a normal person after he was saved by the gypsy. So...was it worth it?"

That was an odd question to ask but she answered it anyway. Setsuna said, "I...I guess."

Konoka beamed down at her and leaned down, hugging her tightly, warmly and said, "Your friend's death wasn't your fault."

Setsuna swallowed. It was suddenly getting hard to breathe. And she could smell the shampoo in Konoka's hair as well as something else that was like a summer breeze, perfume and the scent of dark chocolate and fresh roses blended together. Setsuna felt dizzy. Her heart was racing. Alcohol, yes, it was the after-effects of the alcohol.

"Hey Setsuna you in there?!"

Setsuna and Konoka jumped apart as Haruna's voice boomed through the air cheerfully, shattering the silence like an avenging angel of destruction. The doorknob rattled. Setsuna scrambled off the bed, book in hand.

"I am don't break the door down!" Setsuna called.

She zoomed towards the door, half-running, half-flying and wrenched it open before Haruna could barge into the room.

"Glad to see you're alive!" Haruna said, clapping Setsuna on the shoulder heartily. "I was getting worried! I mean, it's already three in the afternoon!"

Setsuna blinked at her, not pleased. Haruna was standing there with a bouquet of red roses in her hand. Haruna peered around Setsuna, seeming to look for something. Setsuna moved her wings so that they blocked the doorway, staring at Haruna.

"What are those for?" She asked, gesturing to the roses.

"A congratulatory present," Haruna winked at her. "For you and your...erm, for you and Konoka."

Setsuna just stared blankly at the bouquet of roses. Her head was still smarting. She wasn't in the mood for Haruna's tricks.

"Wow, you must have been REALLY wasted," Haruna grinned.

"...What are you talking about? We didn't do anything."

Haruna just grinned wider. Konoka appeared at Setsuna's side going underneath her wing, peering at Haruna curiously. Noticing the roses, she gushed bringing her nose close and smelling them, "Oh those are beautiful! What's the occasion Haruna?"

"You should know," Haruna wiggled her eyebrows.

"What should you know?" Setsuna asked, turning to Konoka.

Konoka bit her lower lip, her eyes large. Haruna was watching her, her grin becoming predatory. Panic crept up the back of her neck. Suddenly she was finding it hard to breathe. Taking a deep breath Haruna pointed at them.

"Wait Haruna-" Konoka started.

"You and Konoka kissed each other. Together. In front of the full moon."

* * *

A.N: I am alive! Hope everyone had a great holiday. Sit back, fasten your seat-belts and enjoy the ride!

Pinstripe: No they weren't from Konoka casting a spell. To clarify, Konoka hasn't actually been purposely casting spells on Setsuna. Setsuna was attracted to her the minute she saw her. The rose petals...well, you'll find out why that happened in due time ;0

KJacket: Konoka is a very special person.

NegimaFan: I was wondering why there were two of you suddenly appearing on my favourites. I thought maybe it was your sister or brother or something.

HellAngel: Welcome to my world ;)


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey Setsuna, aren't you going to come eat? _Konoka'_s going to be there."

"You know there's this really great spot in the forest you can go. It's really nice, peaceful...perfect for two people to have fun. If you know what I mean."

"So what did she taste like?"

"Let me know when your wedding is. I'll bring the champagne!"

"I heard you guys were like, completely naked!"

That last one had been from Makie, who had been completely innocent when speaking to her. And curious, way too curious. It'd been three days since Haruna had blurted out to Setsuna about the kiss. Which meant, as usual, everyone knew about the kiss and rumours were piling up like the underwear that Setsuna was supposed to have cleaned up. They'd been destroyed along with the robots. Setsuna had no plans to tell Al or Nekane exactly what had happened when they came back which would probably be in a couple of days. Usually they came back before Setsuna opened the palace to the public. That meant the others would be too busy to make fun of her. Setsuna avoided Konoka at all costs. Haruna kept on trying to catch them in suspicious situations or match-make them. Now, two days later as Setsuna perched on top of one of the gargoyles on one of the ledges, over-looking the sprawling city that lay beyond the palace and gathering what little sanity she had left, she wondered if she would have been better off dying back at the tribe. Setsuna stretched her wings, feeling the moonlight bath it in an ethereal glow and sighed, reveling in the glow as it shone over her entire body. It was sensation that she loved. Not only did the moonlight feel cooling but it strengthened her. She had no idea why. Setsuna glanced down, catching a silver of movement in her eyes. The twins were moving across the lawn like quicksilver, giggling to themselves. As they moved, the moonlight dappled their forms in eerie white. Setsuna had learnt a long time ago to ignore them and let them have their fun. It was more trouble than it was worth getting involved.

A white figure strode out of the woods, arms folded back over its head. Setsuna tilted her head, gripping the statue with her feet and leaned forwards. It was Jack. He was whistling. Setsuna watched him like an eagle, wings arching inwards and outer feathers tipped. Setsuna held the eagle's head with her hands. He didn't seem like he was doing anything suspicious. Then again, with Jack she couldn't really tell half the time. Jack looked up at the sky as a massive shadow glided across it, highlighted against the backdrop of the moon. Icarus. He wheeled around, angling his wings and veered to the right making a smooth, effortless 180 degree turn and glided down to land on one of the ledges above Setsuna. Jack's eyes fell on Setsuna. Icarus settled down, beak clacking and twisted his head over his shoulder, preening his feathers in slow, precise motions.

Hey Setsuna. Icarus said in her head.

What happened to master?

Lady Konoka told me to stop calling you that because she said it made you feel bad. Icarus said.

Setsuna looked at him, surprised.

Icarus stopped moving his head, his eyes flicking to Setsuna. The angle of his head made it look like he was grinning even though griffons couldn't grin. Yeah, I was weirded out too but she's like that. Y'know, the caring type that's always sunshine and rainbows. She pays a lot of attention to other people's feelings.

"Oi Setsuna!" Jack boomed. "Come down here I got a message from your little missus!"

Setsuna snapped around, spluttering. Little missus?! Icarus let out a shrill caw, snickering in Setsuna's head. Setsuna shot him a death glare. He continued preening, oblivious. Mumbling to herself, Setsuna glided down from the eagle landing with the lightest of touches in front of Jack.

"She said she's going to do the show once every week," Jack said.

"What?" Setsuna said blankly. "But I just...the robots...really?"

Setsuna tried to stop the image of a pile of lingerie flashing in her mind. Then an image of the robots parading around with lingerie on their heads and flashing each other surfaced. Setsuna's eye twitched. She turned around, covering her mouth. Coughing she turned back around to face Jack who was watching her, amused.

"I'll talk to Ayaka about it," Setsuna said. "She's the one who's in charge of the opening."

Jack just grinned, showing razor sharp white teeth that gleamed deviously in the moonlight. "She said yes."

"What? When?" Setsuna said, suspicious.

"Dinner," Jack said. He shrugged, "You would've known if you'd been there but hey, you were all by yourself up in your lonesome the entire day so ya missed it."

Setsuna just snorted.

"So why don't you try to date her or something? Maybe you just like the way she looks."

"You know why Jack."

"The spell right? Listen just because you like her it doesn't mean you gotta be with her for the rest of your life!" Jack laughed.

"Well-"

"It's a little old tiny crush ain't it?" Jack chuckled. "Come on, you need some fun. Loosen up a little huh? Konoka's a fun girl."

"I'll pretend you didn't say that.." Setsuna frowned at him.

There was a whistling noise. Setsuna caught the arrow with a hand, crushing it into powder with a splintering crunch of wood. Jack glanced sideways as they both heard Haruna yelp in panic from all the way on the roof-top of the palace where she was hiding. Setsuna followed his gaze, spotting two green tips of antennae hair sticking up from the edges of the roof. A white wing was sticking up beside it along with the tip of a quiver.

"Go back to sleep Haruna!" Setsuna yelled.

The hair disappeared behind the edge of the roof. She heard Haruna whispering, "Next time Cupid. We gotta retreat...for now."

Setsuna glowered in the general direction of where she thought Haruna was sullenly. Her fingers twitched. Would it be so bad if Setsuna strangled her? They had all the props after all. And they could find another bard. There were plenty of bards in this world.

"Okay so why don't you just tell her?" Jack chuckled, eyes gleaming.

"There's no reason," Setsuna muttered. "She likes me as a friend."

"Really?"

"Yes and I..."

"So you do just love the way she looks?"

"...I do not."

"So you like the way she kisses?"

"I-that-that was...I was drunk!"

"Oh so it's her personality huh?"

"No I...don't twist my words. What were you doing out here anyway in the first place?"

"Nothing," Jack started to turn. "One more thing...I saw her walking into the forest not too long ago. You might want to make sure she doesn't hurt herself because of you know who."

As Setsuna whipped back to Jack, he disappeared his laughter echoing in her ear. Setsuna bolted into the woods, cursing in her head. Why had she not told Konoka not to go into the forest at night? Damn that Jack! Why hadn't he said anything to Konoka? He had been there!

"Konoka!" Setsuna called. "Konoka!"

Setsuna was going deeper and deeper. She could tell because the foliage was getting thicker and thicker. Setsuna had to tread carefully to avoid overhanging branches or upended tree roots. The canopy was thick, barely letting any moonlight through. It was good thing Setsuna could see in the dark. She wondered how far Konoka had gone. The forest stretched out all the way back out towards the edge of the territory where the wilderness was. Wilderness being mountains and rocky terrain where the river flowed, winding down the land through the forest and into the city that was further down from the palace. Setsuna didn't want to think about the mountains. That was where her former tribe was. She hadn't been back there for over a decade, not since exile. Just thinking about it brought back too many painful memories. Setsuna pushed aside some leaves, stepping through a clump of bushes and called again. Hoot hoot. An owl answered her this time. Setsuna looked at it darkly. It was a common barn owl with massive golden eyes ringed by tawny brown feathers. Its feathers seemed to stick out above its eyes, giving it a sleepy-eyed look. Smudges of darker brown around its beak gave it an impression that it was smiling idly. What a strange owl, Setsuna thought. Setsuna continued on her way, calling for Konoka.

Her feet brushed something smooth and papery. Setsuna looked down. Two paper lanterns were sitting on the ground, tied to the trunk of a nearby tree with white string. They both had lit candles inside them at the center, emitting a fiery glow. At first Setsuna didn't think anything of them but she then saw that they looked like her and Konoka. They _were _Setsuna and Konoka. And their names were written across the top in black ink with messy hand-writing. What the...? Setsuna felt an uneasy tingle skitter down her spine. This looked like the work of the twins. It'd explain why they were in the forest at this time of the night. Setsuna knelt down, untying the string and blew out the candles. She'd talk to them later. She noticed something near the lanterns, a small golden bell that was bent and dented. She bent down to pick it up. There was a whooshing noise. Leaves whirled around her in a tornado, startling her and obscuring her view. She stepped backwards on something hard and rough. Rope.

Setsuna was hoisted up into the air by a net. She struggled but the more she did the more the net closed in around her, pressing her limbs together so that she couldn't move. Pretty soon, the rope was literally flattening her face. She could still move her hand which meant rune. Setsuna began to draw the rune spell for teleportation. Glimmering symbols of blue appeared in the air. White light surrounded Setsuna then disappeared without her. The runes faded. Nothing. Fumika and Fuuka. It had to be those two. No one else would play a prank so childish and simple. It explained why they were out in the forest. Setsuna was going to kill those two. She heard rustling. Someone stumbled out of the foliage. Fumika? Fuuka? No one else was that short.

"Fumika!" Setsuna roared. "Fuuka! I swear if you two don't get me down from here I'll...!"

She trailed off as the figure let out a frightened eep and hid behind a thick, slightly deformed tree. The person peered out from behind the tree. Setsuna was shocked. That was definitely Konoka. She had the same loving brown eyes and dark brown hair and heart-stopping smile and clothes. Except Konoka seemed to have shrunk down to the size of a 10 year old. But that was her. It couldn't be anyone else unless Yuuna was playing a prank on her.

"You-You scared me." Konoka stifled a yawn, blinking up at Setsuna owlishly and leaned against the tree. She asked, "You're Secchan right?"

Setsuna stopped struggling and stared at her, speechless.

Konoka smiled up at Setsuna through a curtain of tangled hair, "So you can tell me where Konoka is."

At first Setsuna thought Konoka was joking then realization dawned on her. A clone, this had to be another clone.

"What...who are you?" Setsuna asked.

"Konoka" looked confused. Then she said, "Romi."

"You're one of her clones aren't you?"

Romi nodded. Setsuna mentally slapped herself. Out of all her luck...

"So can you help me get down from here? I can't help you find Konoka if you don't," Setsuna said, plastering a friendly smile over her face.

Romi's expression grew thoughtful. Then she asked, "How?"

Setsuna pointed to the bell. "See that? Break it anyway you can."

Romi bent down, picking up the bell slowly. Setsuna watched her, wondering if she even had enough strength. It turned out she did. She smashed it against the tree reducing it to fragments which dissolved into golden mist that dissapated into the air. The net suddenly vanished and Setsuna plummeted to the ground, crying out. Setsuna sat up, groaning. Her tail-bone hurt and she didn't even have a tail-bone. Romi was swaying on her feet.

"Can I sleep now?" Romi mumbled.

Setsuna glanced up at her, frowning slightly. Before she could say anything Romi toppled over falling into Setsuna's arms. Setsuna jerked, surprised.

"Hey," Setsuna shook her. "Hey what are you doing? Wake up this isn't the time to sleep!"

Romi just snuggled deeper, sighing contently. Setsuna tried to wake her but gave up immediately after Romi's grip tightened on her arm, threatening to cut off her blood circulation. She stood up, carrying the clone in her arms and poked a toe underneath the bottom of the paper lantern, throwing it up into the air expertly. Setsuna caught the string with her fingers, holding it tightly. She did the same with the other lantern.

"Why couldn't you have at least told me where you came from?" Setsuna mumbled as Romi sighed against her.

By the time Setsuna found Konoka the moon had waned, leaving very little moonlight shining through the gaps in the canopy. The foliage had also grown thicker. Konoka was in a patch of open space where the trees were sparse and more spread out. She was lying curled up against the base of a tree, face nestled in her arms and a peaceful, serene expression on her face. Patches of moonlight adorned her in an ethereal, silvery blanket. Setsuna faltered, breathing a sigh of relief. She was okay. Setsuna knelt down, putting Romi gently on the ground and touched Konoka's shoulder.

Konoka stirred, eyes opening sleepily and murmured, "Se...cchan? What are you doing here?"

"I came to get you," Setsuna said. "It's dangerous out here."

Konoka stretched, arching her back so much that her clothes rode up her upper body. How come Setsuna had never noticed how slim and curved her legs were? The way her hair streamed down the back of her neck in long, chocolate curls and the smooth curve of her back? Setsuna shook her head, dropping her eyes as Konoka glanced at her. When Setsuna dared to look again Konoka was smiling at her. She stood up, walking past Setsuna. Moonlight rippled over her and Setsuna thought just for a second that she'd seen an angel. Konoka bent down, picking a sleeping Romi up.

"Thank goodness she didn't get hurt," Konoka sighed. "You found her didn't you?"

Setsuna glanced at the paper lanterns and muttered, "She found me."

Konoka giggled. Seeing Setsuna's expression she laughed, "It wasn't that bad was it? Romi's easy to get along with."

Setsuna held up the lanterns and said, "Twins, trap and I had to carry her. What kind of clone is she anyway? She can't even stay awake."

Konoka made a sympathetic face. She said, "Uh...well she comes out when I feel really, really sleepy."

Konoka hugged Romi close to her. Romi buried her face into Konoka's chest, fingers gripping her sleeves tightly. There was a blinding flash of white light. When it was gone Romi was gone. Konoka turned to Setsuna.

"She's back inside me now," Konoka said. "Just like with Rose."

Setsuna looked around apprehensively. A paranoid part of her thought what if Rose was out as well? When she saw that it was clear she asked, "What were you doing out here anyway? I thought you were asleep. And what's this about performing every week?"

"Oh well the crowd liked what I was doing and I thought it would help you guys earn more money," Konoka said. "You should have seen how much we got Secchan. Hharuna was saying she could buy five cruise ships. As for what I was doing...uh, well I wanted to give you something. As a sign of our friendship."

Setsuna had forgotten about the money. Konoka's words made her heart jump. How could she trust Haruna with the money? Usually Nekane took care of that. Setsuna took Konoka's hand and tugged her, then stopped as the former planted her feet in the ground pulling Setsuna back firmly but gently.

"It's okay. Nodoka and Yue kept the money away from Haruna," Konoka said.

Setsuna looked at her, surprised. "How did you what I was thinking?"

"Nodoka told me about how much Haruna likes to spend," Konoka smiled at her.

"...Oh."

"Now stay still," Konoka said. "I told you I wanted to give you something."

Konoka bent over, picking up what looked like a three threads made out of white silk. Konoka wrote some runes into the outermost thread. Runes for making an inanimate object into metal. The runes glowed red then sank into the threads. They all melded together, making a white metal bracelet. Konoka slipped it onto Setsuna's wrist affectionately. A rose petal formed on the centre, locking the bands together. Setsuna felt something clench around her heart as her fingers brushed against Setsuna's skin. That was weird.

"It's a sign of our friendship. I..." Konoka paused, wringing her hands together. "I wanted to thank you properly for saving me when we first met."

"You kind of already have," Setsuna said.

Konoka looked happy. Her eyes were smiling. As she hugged Setsuna, she caught the scent of her hair. It smelt like chocolate and freshly picked strawberries. Setsuna sighed contently. Konoka's hair felt so smooth. It was like silk.

"Let's stay here for the night," Konoka said brightly. "This place is full of magic. It's beautiful."

You're beautiful. Setsuna wanted to say but caught herself just in time. She hesitated but when Konoka looked at her with those eyes she found herself saying okay and the next minute she was sitting down with Konoka at the base of the tree, fingers entwined with Konoka's head resting on her shoulder. Setsuna could feel her heartbeat. It was going a little faster than normal. Probably what Setsuna's was doing too. She remembered what Konoka had said. That she was attracted to her but that was it. Friends? Yes, Setsuna could do that but right now, doused in a column of moonlight that peeked through the canopy of the forest she was so beautiful especially with the way she looked now. It took all of Setsuna's self-control not to do anything. Setsuna's hair was snow white. Her eyes were blue. She knew because that only happened when the moonlight was shining on her making her feel stronger and energized in a kind of peaceful, serene way.

"So why were you hesitating?" Konoka asked.

Setsuna looked into Konoka's dark brown eyes. They were gazing at her curiously, innocently.

"There's a...person that's trapped deep in the heart of the forest in a theatre mask. She lived here with us decades ago when the palace was a mental asylum. Her name is Evangeline A.K McDowell. She's a sorceress...and a vampire."

* * *

A.N: Breather chapter. Big reveal coming in...well, soon. Why can't Setsuna love? You'll know soon enough ;0. And keep a lookout for our favourite vampire because she's coming and boy, is she going to make it hell for Setsuna.

KeeperAki: Full demon in this story remember ;D.

Lance: Setsuna is attracted to Konoka. She has an infatuation but she cannot love because of one reason that will be revealed later. She can lust but she cannot love. Konoka can love anyone she wishes to love but she doesn't love Setsuna right now. She is attracted to Setsuna as well but is not willing to go any further because it's not in her best interests and will compromise her safety. She flirts with people she likes and right now it's Setsuna but that's all it is, a game. Lust/Infatuation and love are two different things. Lust=physical attraction. Love=loving a person for not just how they look but for the person they are. Right now Setsuna and Konoka are infatuated with one another. Maybe they'll fall in love later on :P. That's all I'm going to say ;].

lugubriouslytumultuous: Welcome! Hope you enjoy the ride. And thank you so much for your compliments. Hopefully I can continue to immerse you in this world and flesh out these characters as the story demands :D.

NegimaFan: Correct on all accounts but the fates may have a different plan in mind for our dear Setsuna heh.


	13. Chapter 13

_Past_

"Are you serious Al? I known the both of you are friends but this..."

"She's harmless Nekane, really. You don't have to worry about her."

"She terrorized Ostia!"

"She didn't kill anyone."

"What about the soldiers that chased her all the way from the city out into the wilderness? She drank their blood Al."

"Temporary blood-lust after being contained for months. The soldiers are fine. They're recovering at their homes."

"...That is true."

Nekane and Al were speaking to each other at the front of the room. Setsuna was playing guard duty. She was sitting in one of the chairs, watching the pint-sized vampire in front of her with the eyes of a hawk. Setsuna had never met a vampire before, much less heard of one so she was fascinated. The vampire looked like a human girl, no larger than a child fledgling demon she had seen in her former tribe. It had long platinum blonde hair that was almost white and the iciest, lightest, bluest eyes Setsuna had ever seen. It was sitting with one leg crossed, inspecting red-painted fingernails. So far they hadn't said a single word to each other. Setsuna hadn't taken her eyes off it. Al had appeared one morning with her in his arms. Her clothes had been stained with fresh blood. Setsuna had been alone in her room, mulling over dark thoughts and had went out for a flight. She had been so tempted to go back to the mountains but she couldn't. The tribe believed she was dead and that was for the better.

"Hey, you can talk right?"

Setsuna started. It was talking to her.

"Yes," Setsuna nodded.

"Great," It said and pointed a finger at the wall. "Break the wall down for me. I'm too weak to do it right now."

Setsuna frowned. The vampire sighed and raised a hand, capturing her eyes. Setsuna followed her hand as it twirled, eyes glazing over.

"Kitty, no hypnotizing!" Al called cheerfully.

It snorted, rolling its eyes. Setsuna shook her head, disorientated.

"Heh...you look stupid," It chuckled. "But I guess any bird demon would look stupid looking like a dumb-struck mule sitting like that."

"What's wrong with the way I sit?" Setsuna said, offended.

It just leaned back in the chair, crossing its arms and smirked at her. Setsuna puffed up, wings rustling indignantly. Sure so Setsuna was technically squatting on the chair, her hands clutching the edge with her upper body leaning forwards. It was more animal than human but sometimes she sat like that.

"Let me guess, Al took you in?"

Setsuna remained silent, glaring at her.

"What's the matter? Did your tribe abandon you?"

Setsuna's eye twitched. It smiled widely, showing sharp fangs.

"I guess they did. Why else would you be hanging around that idiot," It muttered, throwing a dirty look at Al. "He always picks up strays. Him and that dimwitted gypsy. Don't know why but I guess it's because of some stupid misplaced sympathy for you people."

Setsuna blinked, taken aback. Did it just admit that it was a stray? It huffed, lapsing into a sullen silence and said not a word after that. As the days went by, Setsuna grew more and more curious about the vampire. She didn't have to drink a lot of blood apparently. Just enough every full moon to survive. Al was the one who took care of that. She would disappear into his room and come out later, looking satisfied. As days turned into months Setsuna and her started calling each other on a first name basis though Evangeline liked to call her bird-brain for some reason. Setsuna wasn't insulted. She was a bird demon so she had some habits that were distinctly bird-like, eagle like to be exact. When she wasn't in her room she was taking walks out in the back garden with a parisole in a frilly yellow dress and her a lace ribbon tucked in her hair, blue eyes thoughtful. She would look like a sweet, innocent little girl. Fragile and vulnerable. That was when she was thinking about things in her past, distant memories. It would have been easy for anyone to pick her up and cuddle her. Of course, that person would have found out that Evangeline didn't need pity nor did she want it. When Al did it she would shriek at him and kick and lash out with her feet and fists. It was kind of cute.

Then there were the asylum patients. Evangeline looked at them with pity. It was baffling to Setsuna. She was still sadistic but she knew when to stop so that the patients weren't harmed. Sayo, an orphan who was only 15, was her favourite victim. Sayo was an incredibly shy child. She was also quiet, had no powers and had the kindest heart Setsuna had ever seen in her life which made her easy to pick on. She would never yell or shout at people or get angry which seemed to amuse Evangeline. If Evangeline pushed her too far Jack would step in to distract her which resulted in a fight. Setsuna had seen the demon survive nukes and he was the size a full grown bear with bulging muscles so it worked. His strength alone made him a match for her. Setsuna had never seen them fight seriously with one another but she didn't want to. She had a feeling they would destroy not only the palace but the planet. Of course, not even Jack could keep peace.

_1 year later_

Setsuna crashed through the double doors of the asylum into the hallway on the bottom floor. People were running, screaming. Some were huddled in the corners, others were crying and on their knees on the floor. Setsuna was pushed aside as someone barged past her into the front yard. Setsuna grabbed Chizuru as she ran past. The girl was one of the nurses here, a psychiatrist and she was usually calm. Right now her face was chalk white, the colour drained from her face. She looked terrified.

"What happened?" Setsuna demanded.

Tears were cascading down her face. Setsuna realized that there was blood all over her hands and face, her clothes and shoes. It was fresh. It wasn't hers. Setsuna could tell because that much blood loss would have made her collapse.

"E-E-Evangeline, s-s-she..." Chizuru trailed off as a deafening explosion sounded throughout the asylum.

The girls screamed. Bits of plaster came loose from the ceiling, raining down on them. Setsuna heard a creaking noise above them. The ceiling suddenly gave way. Dust clogged the air in a fine mist. Setsuna hurried backwards, taking Chizuru with her so that she didn't get squashed by the rubble. A gargantuan figure was getting up. The dust thinned down. Setsuna made out bulging muscles, a short jacket, pearly whites. Jack. Setsuna stared at him, horror seeping into her. He looked like he'd been splattered all over with blood but the only way that could have happened is if he'd swam in a pool of blood which was impossible. The other way, the one Setsuna didn't want to think about, leapt to the surface of her brain. Setsuna looked around at the others. She took in their terrified expressions, the crying, the shaking that some of them were doing. She looked at Chizuru who had covered her mouth with a hand, horrified. Her cheeks were tinged with green. She looked like she was going to be sick. Jack was rising, spitting blood from his mouth. He wiped it with the back of his hand.

"Come on, you can do better than that!" Jack boomed.

A sphere of ice formed around Jack's feet. He glanced down at it, amused. Then it closed around him like a bear-trap with a bone-crunching slam. All the girls screamed. Some of them fainted on the spot. Setsuna pushed Chizuru towards the door and started to usher the rest of the girls out the door. It didn't take much. They all ran. Then the door slammed shut, ice rushing across the doors and walls. The temperature dropped so much the girls stopped dead in their tracks. The sphere of ice cracked then shattered into a thousand pieces, flying everywhere in sharp shards that would slice anyone's head open. A defensive spell. Setsuna needed one. She knew one, a gypsy spell Al had taught her that used fire as protection. It was one of the basic tenants Al and Nekane had taught her. Fire is life. It protects and at the same time, it destroys anything in its path. The key lay in keeping the balance between the two.

Setsuna conjured fire in her hand and murmured, "Ignis, protegite nos..."

She slammed her hands together, a thunder-clap splitting the air and the flames roared, spiraling upwards and around into a massive burning shield that expanded, ribbons of flames encircling them. The flames were flickering in place, threatening and dangerous. They would consume any element that touched them, even light and darkness but they would protect the girls behind her. Through the flames Setsuna saw Jack stand up tall and upright, cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders. He was alive. He shouldn't have been but he was. Setsuna looked around desperately. Where was Al? Nekane? And more importantly, Evangeline? She was the only one who could've done this. Everyone had seen her doing ice magic and she was the only one in the palace who could. Setsuna's flames weren't even melting the ice completely when they touched it. The ice would stop and fall, streams of water trickling from it onto the floor from the heat.

"Jack, where's-?!"

An ice spear hurtled through the hole in the ceiling. Jack clubbed it with a hand, smashing it into pieces and laughed. A blur sped through the hole, spinning and rammed a pint-sized, lethal fist at his back. Jack spun around, blocking it and threw one back at Evangeline's head. Evangeline dodged, whirling and dealing a round-house kick at his head. From then on it was a series of blows that were too fast even for Setsuna to see. The two moved like machines, trading punches and kicks, blocking and fending, retaliating. Setsuna managed to catch a snapshot of Evangeline's fist sailing past Jack's nose, inches away from his nose as he twisted to the side. Her eyes were different. Sure she'd always been sadistic but she had never wanted to seriously kill anyone. The look in her eyes was pure evil, not just evil but pure, unadulterated evil that wanted nothing more than to hurt and hurt and hurt some more until there was nothing left but corpses. From the time they'd spent together Setsuna knew Evangeline wasn't that bad. She just liked to torment people. Not kill, torment. Then time sped up and Evangeline lunged for Jack, wrapping both legs around his neck and bringing him down by using the momentum to throw him off balance. Jack grinned up at her, spitting blood in her face. Evangeline wiped it off with the back of her hand and putting a manicured hand in front of his face, blasted him with a blockade of ice. Setsuna almost dropped the shield but held it just in time. Frost churned out, spilling over the floor in a misty flood. When it touched the fire it evaporated into water. The mist cleared, revealing an ice statue of Jack.

"Oh my god," Sayo whispered.

"NO!" Setsuna screamed as Evangeline clobbered the statue with a punch. The statue broke into a thousand pieces, spraying shards everywhere.

Setsuna stared at her, horrified. Evangeline stood up, turning slowly to Setsuna while cracking her knuckles. A sick smile spread over her face. She flickered, then reappeared in front of the flames, inches from Setsuna's face.

"You think your pathetic spell can stop me?" She laughed.

A chill skittered down Setsuna's spine. Then Evangeline's hand shot through the flames and they burst apart, disappearing into the air. Setsuna blocked Evangeline's punch just in time with a wing, conjuring Yuunagi at the same time in one hand and lunged forwards, aiming for her neck. As she expected the vampire dodged, darting away. Setsuna completed the movement, landing in a crouch wings arched. She felt the bottom of her feathers brush something cold. It was a piece of Jack's head. She swallowed down a lump. No, she wouldn't cry. Setsuna had to get the girls out. They couldn't protect themselves. She had to distract her first. Evangeline was zeroing in on them like a shark to blood.

"Hey hag-face! Crone! Bat-breath! Yes, I'm talking to you Evangeline A.K McDowell! What's the matter, afraid you're going to lose to me?! You're way past your expiry date you know and you smell like an old carton of eggs that's been left out in the sun to dry so I guess it's okay if you feel like you're going to lose to me!" Setsuna shouted, sliding a foot back and pulling back Yuunagi. "AND you smell like a thousand year old mummified corpse that's been left rotting in a cavern in a damp, dog-smelling tomb that smells like rotten eggs and fish! AND you're a stupid blonde!"

The vampire whirled around, growling. The irises of her eyes were completely black, pupils glowing red.

"WHAT did you call me you little brat?!"

Hope flared in Setsuna. There! There was a spark of the non-possessed Evangeline!

"I said you're a-!"

She started to chant something in words that Setsuna couldn't understand but she knew that spell. She had heard Al reading it. She didn't know what it did but she knew it wasn't good. Nekane had torn the page out of the book and burned it after she found Al was reading it. Oh no.

"Wait-!"

Too late. There was a noise like giant wings sweeping through the air. Darkness swamped the area. Setsuna covered her nose with her sleeve, hurriedly writing runes of protection in the air. It didn't work though. Evangeline was too strong. She felt the darkness clinging to her clothes and skin. Her feet suddenly felt like lead. She couldn't move them and she didn't dare look down to see what that meant. She already had a feeling. The tips of her fingers were already hardening, changing from flesh and blood to cold granite stone. Her sword was hard granite. When she finished all her fingers were stone as well as half her legs. The darkness cleared, evaporating. Setsuna stared. All around her were stone statues. The girls had been petrified.

"So the little bird does know how to run," Evangeline growled. She raised her hand.

In two seconds Setsuna's legs had morphed to stone as well as her lower torso. Then Al suddenly appeared in a whirlwind of flames behind Evangeline and chopped her neck with a hand. Evangeline cried out and pitched forwards, falling down from the air. Setsuna felt her legs turn back to normal. Stone fragments shattered, littering the floor around her feet. She darted forwards, catching the petite vampire in her arms. Hovering in the air, Al gazed down at them solemnly. Gypsies could teleport using fire drawn from their life force. The stronger the gypsy was, the farther they could go. The hovering part was an after-effect depending on the person's own energy.

"What was that?" Setsuna demanded shakily.

"A spell," Al said. He slipped his hand inside his sleeve, pulling out a white paper charm. "She was rummaging around in the library and came across a book."

"How did she get in?" Setsuna frowned. "I thought you put defensive barriers around your office."

"She got past them," Al said.

Setsuna looked at him, surprised. There was a hint of admiration in his voice. Evangeline's eyes snapped open. She launched herself at Setsuna, faster than she could see. The next thing she knew, Evangeline had her hand wrapped around her throat, the other raised above her face fingers curled into claws and nails glinting. Wham! Al slammed into Evangeline, dragging her off Setsuna. Gasping Setsuna sat up, massaging her neck. Evangeline had almost crushed her windpipe. Al wrenched Evangeline's hands behind her back, pushing her up against the icy wall. Setsuna was amazed that he had the strength to hold her. A gypsy shouldn't be able to do that. There was something Al wasn't telling her.

He pulled out a theatre mask from the inside of his cloak, slapping the charm on it with his other hand and roared, "Apere!"

A terrible shriek scissored the air. The eye and mouth holes of the mask glowed white. Light speared out of them, engulfing Evangeline. When it had disappeared, Evangeline was gone.

"Thank goodness Nekane, Nodoka and Yue aren't here," Al murmured.

Setsuna could only stare at him, then at the remains of Jack and the statues. She said hoarsely, "Al...Jack...Jack and the others. They're-"

"There's nothing we can do for them," Al said solemnly. "That was a permanent petrification spell. No one can reverse it, not even the caster."

Setsuna's heart dropped. She stood up, looking around at all the statues. As her eyes fell on Sayo, she felt a lump in her throat. Her eyes burned. Setsuna blinked, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"What about Jack?" Setsuna asked hoarsely.

Al looked at Setsuna gravely, a shadow crossing his face. He said, "There's nothing we can do for Jack. What's done is done."

Setsuna covered her eyes, feeling tears well up inside them. She felt a gentle hand touch her shoulder. It was Al. She looked up at him.

"I'll put Evangeline somewhere safe," Al said.

He squeezed Setsuna's shoulder, then disappeared in a pillar of flames. As tongues of flame vanished in the air the statues and remains of Jack crumbled into dust, scattering the ground and disappeared. Setsuna bowed her head, clamping her eyes shut as tears slid out of them trickling down her face.

_Present_

"Evangeline killed him?" Konoka stared at her.

"The force that possessed her did. Evangeline had picked up a book from one of Nodoka's collections in the library but she didn't know it contained dark magic ," Setsuna said softly, glancing down at the theatre mask. "Evangeline would never have killed anyone in her right mind. At the time, sealing her was the only option we had and Jack returned as a ghost shortly after. We think he's still waiting for something, unfinished business."

"What happened to the charm to keep her in the mask?" Konoka asked.

"Al took it off years ago and replaced it with sealing runes," Setsuna said. "It turns out they're more powerful than sorcerer's spells. We wanted to trap her, not kill her."

"Because gypsy magic aims to protects and preserves life. It doesn't seek to kill," Konoka nodded.

"Yeah..."

Konoka was silent, thinking. She said, smiling slightly at her, "I can't believe you called her all those names."

"I had to get her attention somehow," Setsuna said, blushing slightly.

"You know if you called some sorcerers that they'd turn you into a frog?" Konoka teased.

"You read too much stories," Setsuna said, shaking her head. "Sorcerers would turn you into something far worse like a sea slug or they'd curse you with an incurable illness."

"Eeew," Konoka pulled a face. Then she said, "If I was a sorcerer I'd turn you into a puppy."

"A puppy?" Setsuna said, raising her eyebrows at her.

"Yep," Konoka said brightly.

"Why?"

Konoka lunged forwards, hugging her and whispered in her ear, "Because you're so damn cute."

Then she kissed her on the cheek. Setsuna froze. Giggling, Konoka let go and strolled ahead, hands behind her back innocently. She paused, looking over her shoulder at Setsuna and said, "Come on Secchan. We'd better get back. The others are going to be worried."

Setsuna stood there, staring after her. Her heart was somewhere between her throat and chest. Her stomach felt funny. She looked down at the bracelet Konoka had given her, touching the silk absent-mindedly. Tingles skittered up her spine.

"Secchan, are you coming?" Konoka called back.

"Y-Yes!" Snapping out of her daze, Setsuna hurried after her rubbing the back of her neck. This was not good. This was not good at all.

* * *

A.N: I am so so sorry for the lateness of this. Rl got in the way, been busy with uni work. Anyway, enjoy the chap...well as much as you can. See you guys next update :D I gotta go. Shoutout to my readers and cookies for you if you're still keeping up with this fic after it's stayed stagnant for two months.


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